David Theile

David Theile

David Theile at the 1960 Olympics
Personal information
Full name	David Egmont Theile
National team	Australia
Born	(1938-01-17) 17 January 1938 (age 79) Maryborough, Queensland
Height	1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)
Sport
Sport	Swimming
Strokes	Backstroke
Club	Maryborough Swimming Club
Medal record Representing Australia Olympic Games 1956 Melbourne 100 m backstroke 1960 Rome 100 m backstroke 1960 Rome 4×100 m medley relay

David Egmont Theile, AO (born 17 January 1938) is an Australian former backstroke swimmer of the 1950s and 1960s, who won consecutive gold medals in the 100-metre backstroke at the 1956 and 1960 Summer Olympics, the only Australian to do so. He subsequently became a leading surgeon and medical administrator.

Theile was born in Maryborough to Alice and Egmont Theile, who ran a husband and wife medical practice. Both had graduated from the University of Sydney, with his father originally being of German descent. He learnt to swim at the age of five, along with his three sisters after being enrolled in a swimming program by his parents. He developed a love of swimming, which relieved him from the boredom of the town, as "the local pool gave us something to do".

By the age of 10, Theile was enjoying success at local swimming carnivals, so his father offered to arrange for him to be coached, but left Theile with the choice of coaches. Of the two coaches in the town, Theile chose Arthur Cusack, who had a reputation as a physical training instructor of whom Theile recounted as being "tough and enthusiastic. All my friends avoided him....somehow I sensed that it was an important decision." Cusack turned out to be his lifelong coach. Under the guidance of Cusack, Maryborough Swimming Club challenged the metropolitan clubs in Brisbane for statewide supremacy. Theile won Queensland junior and open titles in all four strokes. In 1954, at the age of 16, he came second in the open backstroke, and after becoming the national junior champion that year, he decided to concentrate on the given stroke. In 1955, he captured the 110yd backstroke title at the Australian Championships in Adelaide. At the same time, Theile completed his secondary education and was awarded an academic scholarship to study medicine at the University of Queensland.

In 1956, he was selected to represent Australia in the Melbourne Olympics, and he was forced to defer his studies. He won the 110 yd Queensland backstroke title before retaining his Australian title in Sydney. He joined the Australian team at the 12-week winter camp in Townsville, where he worked under the tutelage of Forbes Carlile. At the Townsville camp, Theile initially swam slower in the time trials than John Monckton and John Hayres, but eventually defeated them in the final time trials. At a later Brisbane event, he won again in 64.5 s, but Monckton defeated him in Sydney with a new record time of 63.3 s. However, Theile later struck back with a time of 62.9 s at the final trials in Melbourne, setting a new world record for long-course events.