Frank Beaurepaire

Sir Frank Beaurepaire was an Australian distance freestyle swimmer and was also a decorated politician and businessman. He learned to swim in the ocean, near Port Phillip Bay in Melbourne, and developed a variant of the Trudgeon stroke, which he used effectively throughout his career. In 1906, still only 14-years-old, Beaurepaire won the 220y and 440y freestyle at the Victorian championships. In 1908, he won Australian titles in the 440y, 880y and mile freestyles, qualifying for the Australian Olympic Team in London. In 1910 he won more than a dozen state and national championships and broke the world record for the 220y freestyle. That summer he toured Europe and England, winning 41 races on the tour and setting six world records in the process. In 1911 he took a break from competitive swimming and worked as a swimming instructor, which resulted in him being barred from the 1912 Olympics as a professional. That decision was reversed in 1914.

In World War I, Beaurepaire served in the infantry for the Australian Defence Force. He was gassed and suffered with trench fever before being sent home. After the war, he competed at the 1920 and 1924 Olympics, winning bronze medals both years in the 1,500 freestyle, and leading Australia to silver medals both times in the 4x200 freestyle relay. Throughout his career, he set 15 world records, won 79 Victorian championships, 11 British championships, and a then record 34 Australian titles.

In 1922, he rescued a shark attack victim near Sydney, for which he was awarded the Royal Humane Society Gold Medal and ₤550. He used the award to start Beaurepaires Tyre Company, and later added an offshoot, the Olympic Tyre and Rubber Company. Together the two had assets worth more than ₤8 million at his death in 1956. He served for 10 years in the Victorian Legislative Council (1942-52), and from 1940 until 1942 he was the Lord Mayor of Melbourne. In 1948 he was part of a delegation that went to London to lobby the IOC for Melbourne to host the 1956 Olympics. In 1949 Melbourne was selected to host the 1956 Olympic Games and Beaurepaire was re-elected as mayor so that he could preside over the Games. However, he died of a heart attack just seven months before the Games. Beaurepaire was knighted in 1942.