Dave Haller

After finishing runner-up in the 1960 Hampshire Boys Championship as a 15-year-old, freestyle swimmer Dave Haller seemed to have a bright future in swimming ahead of him and indeed he did, but more as a coach than a swimmer. Haller had a memorable year in the pool in 1964. He set the English 110 yards freestyle record of 55.8 seconds at Southampton, but on his Great Britain début in the triangular match with Italy and Spain at San Remo he finished a disastrous sixth and last in his 100 metres freestyle. Further disaster followed in the ASA Championships when he had a faulty turn in his heat. Despite that, Haller was nevertheless a surprise call-up for the Great Britain squad for the Tokyo Olympics but failed to progress beyond his heat.

Haller started coaching at his Southampton Club in 1967, and it was the start of a 47-year career in coaching. Later appointed the England and Great Britain coach, Haller went on to become one of the best coaches in swimming as he guided Britain to become a swimming “super-power” in the 1970s. Haller produced a swimmer for every Olympics from 1968-2012 including consecutive Olympic champions in David Wilkie and Duncan Goodhew, and latterly five-time Olympian Mark Foster, amongst others.

After Southampton, Haller coached at Cardiff, was Scotland´s national coach, and in 1980 accepted a lucrative offer to act as swimming coach at the Hong Kong Jockey Club´s impressive new multi-million-pound sporting complex. After returning to England, Haller coached at the Beckenham Club and then returned to Cardiff. In 1993 he became the GB team performance director for the European Championships and the following year became GB head coach again.

Haller was the British national team coach at ten Olympics, and coached England, Wales, and Hong Kong at a total of 12 Commonwealth Games. Hardly surprising, he received the British Swimming Coaches Association ‘Coach of the Year’ award nine times. Haller was awarded the MBE for services to sport in 2008. He retired in 2014.