Frederick Lane
Lane at 1900 Olympics
Personal information
Full nameFrederick Claude Vivian Lane
Born(1880-02-02)2 February 1880
Millers Point, New South Wales, Australia
Died14 May 1969(1969-05-14) (aged 89)
Avalon Beach, New South Wales, Australia
Sport
SportSwimming
StrokesFreestyle
Club
  • Blackpool SC
  • East Sydney Amateur SC
Medal record
Men's swimming
Representing Australia
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 1900 Paris 200 m freestyle
Gold medal – first place 1900 Paris 200 m obstacle

Frederick Claude Vivian Lane (2 February 1880 – 14 May 1969) was an Australian swimmer who competed at the 1900 Summer Olympics.[1][2]

Lane, from Manly, New South Wales, was four years old when his brother saved him from drowning in Sydney Harbour, whereupon he decided to learn to swim. Later, he attended high school at Saint Ignatius' College, Riverview.[3]

After breaking many Australasian swimming records, Lane moved to England to compete in the English Championships in 1899.[3]

He was the first Australian to represent his country in swimming at the Olympic Games, when he competed at the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris, and won two gold medals. He first won the 200 metres freestyle, clearly beating Hungarian Zoltán Halmay.[4] His second final was just 45 minutes later, the discontinued 200 metre obstacle event, where he beat Austrian Otto Wahle.[5]

After the Olympics, Lane stayed in England for another two years working for a legal firm in Blackpool while he continued to swim and break records. In July 1902, he won a 100-yard race and became the first person to record one minute dead for that distance.[3] In August, he swam 220 yards in 2 minutes 28.6 seconds, which in 1974 was ratified by FINA as the first World Record for 200 metres.[3] In October, he broke the one-minute barrier for 100 yards in 59.6 seconds.[3]

On returning to Australia, Lane became a master printer and a partner in a printing and stationery firm on Bridge Street. He married in 1908. He died in 1969 at Avalon Beach.[3]

In 1969, Lane was honoured by the International Swimming Hall of Fame in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.[3][6]

On 10 December 1985, Lane was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame.[7] In 2022, he was an inaugural inductee of the Swimming Australia Hall of Fame.[8]

Lane, standing at right, with Manly Swimming Club teammates

See also

References

  1. ↑ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Fred Lane". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 19 March 2017.
  2. ↑ "Frederick Lane". Olympedia. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Lane, Frederick Claude Vivian (1879–1969)". adb.anu.edu.au. Retrieved 19 March 2017.
  4. ↑ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Swimming at the 1900 Paris Summer Games: Men's 200 metres Freestyle". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 19 March 2017.
  5. ↑ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Swimming at the 1900 Paris Summer Games: Men's 200 metres Obstacle Course". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 19 March 2017.
  6. ↑ "Frederick "Freddie" Lane (AUS) 1969 Honor Swimmer". ISHOF.org. International Swimming Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on 24 June 2016. Retrieved 19 March 2017.
  7. ↑ "Fred Lane". sahof.org.au. Sport Australia Hall of Fame. Retrieved 19 March 2017.
  8. ↑ Hanson, Ian (28 August 2022). "Ian Thorpe, Dawn Fraser and Shane Gould Among First Inductees Into Swimming Australia Hall Of Fame". Swimming World. Retrieved 29 August 2022.

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