Sport: Workers & Water Babies

Since a web-footed crew of Australians collected 14 of 23 gold medals at the Melbourne Olympics, the rest of the swimming world has faced up to an unhappy question: How and when can they ever catch up with the Aussies? While they ponder, the Australian Swimming Union is doing its best to aggravate the problem. The British Empire Games are a year away and the Rome Olympics are four years in the future, but this week the A.S.U. is already passing the hat among Aussie fans for $112,000 with which to recruit and train faster and flashier teams.

Early Start. Most of the visiting swimming coaches spent their spare time in Melbourne last fall trailing their hosts with notebook and stopwatch, trying to learn the Aussies' secrets. The Russians even tried an eight-course dinner-and-pumping session aboard the Soviet liner Gruzia. But the Aussies had nothing to hide. Their long months of balmy weather and seaboard beaches make waterbugs of thousands of Australians as soon as they can toddle. Once a youngster can keep his head above the surface, he can join one of 450 A.S.U. sponsored clubs, where competent coaches will teach him free of charge to swim with skill.

The Australian coaches have a good eye for talent, and an almost inexhaustible supply of it. Around Sydney in particular, half a dozen expert teachers have been remarkably successful in talking proud parents into paying for additional private lessons for their children. Once they take a professional interest in a prospective star, the coaches push the child into competition as soon as possible. Young Murray Rose, who won three Olympic gold medals and holds two free-style world records (400 meters and 440 yds.), is, at 18, a seven-year veteran of tough meets all over Australia. Lorraine Crapp, 19, winner of two gold medals at Melbourne and holder of every women's free-style record from 200 meters to 880 yds., was only twelve when she began racing in competition. Dawn Fraser, 20, the Olympic 100 meter free-style titleholder, was 13 when she swam in her first big race. Realizing that Aussie swimmers are often champions before they get out of high school. U.S. colleges (Yale in particular) have been importing them for years.

Fit Finish. Willing to try anything to make their charges swim faster. Australian coaches experiment with special diets (Murray Rose stokes up on seaweed jelly) and novel styles. A few have even tried hypnotism. But like good coaches anywhere, they depend most on grinding work. In the year preceding the Melbourne Olympics, Australian team members trained hard for ten months, swam six days a week, covered an estimated 80 miles apiece each month. Many of them took a ten weeks' calisthenics course in a Sydney gym, tossed medicine balls, chinned the horizontal bar, did pushups. Buoyant (5 ft. 6 in., 152 Ibs.) "Lainy" Crapp worked up to 80 push-ups and, boasted her proud coach, Frank Guthrie, became "almost as strong as a,man." Before the Olympics began, Guthrie figured Lamy was certainly strong enough to swim like a man. He taught her to reduce her kicking power and to slash the water with her arms in a harsh, unladylike chop The change paid off in spectacular style.