Harold Hardwick
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| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Harold Hampton Hardwick | ||||||||||||||||||
| National team |
 Australasia
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| Born |
14 December 1888 Balmain, New South Wales |
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| Died | 22 February 1959 (aged 70) Rushcutters Bay, New South Wales |
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| Sport | |||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Swimming | ||||||||||||||||||
| Strokes | Freestyle | ||||||||||||||||||
| Club | Enterprise Swimming Club | ||||||||||||||||||
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Medal record
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Harold Hampton Hardwick (14 December 1888 – 22 February 1959) was a versatile Australian sports star of the early 20th century - an Olympic gold medal swimmer, national heavyweight boxing champion, and a state representative rugby union player. He later became a colonel in the Australian Imperial Force.
Hardwick was on the winning team of the 4x200-metre freestyle relay at the 1912 Summer Olympics and won bronze medals in the 400-metre and 1500-metre freestyle.
Born in Balmain, Sydney, to George Henry Hardwick and his wife Priscilla, Harold began swimming at an early age, and at 11 was winning races. At the age of 16, while attending Fort Street High School, he became the Public Schools' swimming champion of Sydney. He played rugby in the school's first XV and captained its lifesaving team.
In 1907, embracing the newly popular Australian crawl stroke Hardwick won the New South Wales 100-yard championships in 61.6 seconds. In 1909, he came second at the Australasian Championships in the 100-yard and 880-yard events, behind Cecil Healy and Frank Beaurepaire respectively. In 1911, Hardwick won the 220-yard, 440-yard and 880-yard freestyle at the Australasian Championships. At the 1911 Festival of Empire Games in London, a precursor of the Commonwealth Games to commemorate the coronation of George V, Hardwick won both the 110yd freestyle and heavyweight boxing title. He remained in England for the English Swimming Championships, winning the 100-yard, 220-yard and 440-yard freestyle titles. In 1912, he was selected to represent the Australasia combined team of Australians and New Zealanders at the 1912 Summer Olympics, but could not compete in boxing, as it was omitted for the only time in Olympic history.
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