I
do not k now if you have seen this obituary. This is a GREAT obituary of Murray!
The best I have seen. They made one mistake---they said he went to UC (Cal), not
USC. I corrected it here.
Notice
the Vegan reference. We called him the Green Death. You could cut his farts with
a knife---the worst, but the NICEST guy!
At one time, Murray Rose held the world
swim records for 200 m., 400 m., 800 m. and 1500 m. Absolutely amazing.
Jack
Murray Rose,
Legend, Passes Away At 73
Craig
Lord
Apr 15,
2012
Obituary
Murray
Rose, legend of distance freestyle swimming, died today at the age of 73. He had
been battling Leukaemia since Christmas.
A sad
loss to his family, Rose will be much missed in the world of swimming. Born on
January 6, 1939, he grew to be one of the all-time greats of his sport. His name
will be among those commemorated as Olympic icons at renamed tube stations
across the British capital this summer.
Born to
British parents in Nairn, on the coast of the Moray Firth at the foot of the
Scottish Highlands, Rose emigrated with his family as a one-year-old and learned
to swim in Double Bay, a fashionable Sydney resort with a shark-netted beach at
the back door and an inspiring view of Sydney Harbour.
Veteran
and pioneering coach Forbes Carlile recalled: "I first saw Murray Rose, a slim,
fair-headed boy from tthe Bondi Club standing on a starting block at the North
Sydney Olympic Pool more than 60 years ago. Quietly spoken, reserved and caring,
Murray, hero of the Melbourne Olympics, ranks with the greatest ever. His crawl
stroke technique was a model, world over, for two generations of swimmers.
Murray was a reserved, hugely respected caring person. Sad news. He'll be much
missed."
In 1956,
at 17, Rose became the face of the home Olympic Games in Melbourne a month
before the Opening Ceremony when he clocked a world record of 17:59.5, becoming
the first to race the 1,500m freestyle inside 18 minutes.
Iain
Murray Rose also went by the name “the Seaweed Streak”, courtesy of his
specialised diet: no meat, fish, poultry, refined flour, sugar, chemical-infused
foods, but plenty of seaweed, honey and wheat-germ. The Olympic canteen could
not cater for Rose, and so his parents were allowed to take their son out for
meals.
On the
radio programme You Bet Your Life hosted by Groucho Marx on March 17,
1958, Rose was asked what he attributed his three gold medals to. He told Marx
that veganism was the answer.
The Rose
family traces its origins back to Hugh de Ros, a baron whose name appears as a
witness to the Charter of Beuly Priory in 1200. The Iain before the Murray takes
a Gaelic spelling in honour of ancestors who fought for Prince Charles at the
battle of Culloden Moor in 1746. The family has its own tartan, coat of arms and
motto: "Constant and True".
In
Melbourne, Rose, coached by Sam Herford, opened his Olympic account with a relay
gold and world record (8:23.6) in the 4x200m alongside Kevin O’Halloran, John
Devitt and John Hendricks.
The day
after, he raced to an Olympic record of 4:27.3 over 400m, to become the first
Australian to lift the eight-lap title, 3.1sec ahead of Japan’s Tsuyoshi
Yamanaka, with American George Breen third. Not since Norman Ross in 1920 had a
man won both distance freestyle crowns, while no one as young as Rose had ever
won three gold medals in the Olympic pool.
The tide
seemed to turn against the Australian, however, when Breen sliced 6.6sec off the
world record (17:52.9) over 30 laps in the third heat, two heats after Rose’s
18:04.1. In the final, thin air could hardly separate Rose, Breen and Yamanaka
at 800m. Rose then built a lead of some five metres. With 100m to go, Yamanaka
began to sprint.
The
crowd leapt to its feet, but Rose held on for a 17:58.9 victory over Yamanaka,
on 18:00.3, and Breen, who took bronze in 18:08.2, completing a match of the
400m podium. Rose and Yamanaka would later become students at the University of
Southern California (USC).
Rose
made history again at the 1960 Games in Rome, when he became the first man ever
to retain a distance freestyle title, over 400m (4:18.3). Once again, Yamanaka
took silver in 4:21.4, precisely the same 3.1sec gap between the two as there
had been in 1956.
In the
1,500m, Rose, Breen and Yamanaka placed next to each other, but Australian John
Konrads, another of European (Latvian) parentage, got the better of them
(17:19.6 to Rose’s 17:21.7 and Breen’s 17:30.6).
In his
career, Rose held all freestyle world records from 200m to 1,650yd, including
six standards over 400m (3), 800m (1) and 1,500m (2).
From
Athens 1896 to Athens 2004, no man was able to win an Olympic crown in the pool
at three successive Games, and if Johnny Weissmuller stopped Duke Kahanamoku in
1924 before an underwear contract and the call of Tarzan stopped Weissmuller
himself in 1932, then the next nearly man was Iain Murray Rose, with bureaucracy
the barrier to his tantalising tilt at the triple.
His
penultimate world record, of 17:01.8 at the US championships on August 2, 1964,
failed to sway selectors after Rose opted not to travel home from America for
trials. In his absence, the title went to his countryman Robert Windle in
17:01.7.
Rose
appeared at the Canadian Olympic Trials in Vancouver in 1964. They were held in
September and marked Rose's last shot at convincing the Aussie jury of the day.
The meet, SwimNews founder Nick Thierry recalls, was in a 55-yard pool at the
University of British Columbia, the pool that hosted the 1954 Commonwealth
Games.
Rose won
the 220, 2:01.90, 440, 4:16.60 and 1650, 17:14.10 and swam a special solo 880
record attempt. He was successful in the latter at least, his 8:55.50 the last
world record ever set in the 880 yards before that yardstick was no longer
recognized for global standards. Rose raced inside the 8:59.6 at which the
record had been held by fellow Australian and long-time opponent, John Konrads.
Yards records were no longer recognised after April 30, 1969.
An
avenue at the Sydney Olympic complex was named in Rose's honour in 2000 and he
was one of the eight flag-bearers of the Olympic Flag at the opening ceremony of
the Sydney Games.
In his
life beyond swimming, Rose, who spent 30 years living and working in the US,
acted in the 1964 surf movie Ride the Wild Surf and in the 1968 drama
Ice Station Zebra. He was the patron of the Australian charity "The
Rainbow Club", which teaches disabled children how to swim.
Appointed a Member of the Order of
Australia for services to swimming and granted the Australian Sports Medal in
2000, Rose was awarded the Centenary Medal in 2001.
Married
to the former Jodi Wintz, a ballerina, choreographer and dance teacher and
contest adjudicator, Rose is survived by his last wife, their son Trevor and
daughter Somerset by a former marriage.
President of Swimming Australia David
Urquhart described Rose's passing is a great loss for the sport. "The name
Murray Rose is synonymous with success in the sport of swimming, and his
achievements in Melbourne in 1956 will go down as the stuff of legend," he said.
"Murray Rose is part of the Swimming DNA in this country. His success inspired a
generation and our thoughts and prayers are with his family and close friends
during this difficult time."
In a
joint statement, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard and the nation's Sports
Minister Kate Lundy said Australia had lost one of its greatest
Olympians.
"Murray
was a true pioneer of Australian swimming and his impressive feats in the pool
helped to shape Australia's destiny as a successful sporting
nation.
"Murray
will be remembered fondly as a sporting legend who inspired the next generations
of elite athletes and helped to propel Australia's sporting success in future
Olympics.
"There
is no disputing that the Olympian was a champion in the pool, but Murray also
made an immense contribution to the community through charity work and as patron
of the The Rainbow Club which teaches children with a disability to
swim."
Our thoughts are not only with this
he leaves behind today but with the man who made his mark. Go well Murray Rose.
The Women of Troy led the way. Both American swimmer Rebecca Soni (two golds and a silver in London) and sprinter Allyson Felix (three golds in London) tied Australian swimmer Murray Rose for the USC record of six career medals.
Clement Lefert, on left, helped France (and USC) capture gold in the 4x100 freestyle relay — Getty
