Garrick Agnew

A distance freestyler, Garrick Agnew swam for Australia at the 1948 and 1952 Olympics. He also won a gold medal in the 440 yd freestyle at the 1950 British Empire Games, adding a silver medal that year in the 4x220 yd relay.

Agnew started his studies at the University of Western Australia but received an offer to attend Yale and swim on the team there. In 1950 he instead went to The Ohio State University, graduating in 1952. He then obtained an MBA from Harvard in 1954, and retired that year from swimming to concentrate on business.

Agnew began work in Manila in 1954, but returned to Perth in 1955 where he partnered with an American friend from Harvard, Gus Trippe, and started a cattle shipping business. Their interests soon extended to mining salt and iron ore, which was very successful.

Agnew was also an avid fisherman, setting a Western Australian record in 1983 with a catch of a 319 kg Pacific blue marlin. He was inducted into the International Game Fish Association Hall of Fame in 2003. Agnew was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1978. In 1982 he was made a Knight Bachelor for his service to industry and commerce.