Bob Windle - Early Years

Early Years

Born in Sydney on 7 November 1944, Windle grew up in the southern Sydney suburb of Waverley. Windle and his sister Norma learnt to swim at nearby Bronte Beach. His family later relocated to Bexley North, and he swam for his school team at Marist College Kogarah. Windle was coached by Frank Guthrie at the Enfield pool from the age of 12. After a fortnight of training, he entered the district age group championships and won a place in the top three. From then on, he began training three or four times a week, and his father drove him to Enfield for morning training. By the age of 15, he was training everyday.

A turning point for Windle was the 1960 Australian Championships; he came second in the 1650 yd freestyle behind John Konrads and was selected for the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. He dropped out of high school to attend a three-month training camp in Queensland with the Olympic swimming team. Windle did not swim in Rome; team officials merely wanted him to learn from the routine and atmosphere of Olympic swimming. On his return to Australia, he switched to the tutelage of Don Talbot, who also coached Konrads.

Talbot nicknamed Windle "the greyhound" because of his thin and angular build. As a result of Windle's small build, he took between 45 and 47 strokes to complete a lap, but fellow distance swimmer Murray Rose needed only 35 to 37 strokes. Talbot said that Windle was the most thinly built elite swimmer that he had trained, and had great trouble in trying to increase Windle's frame. Talbot motivated Windle and instilled him with a greater level of self belief. For his part, Windle responded by increasing his workload, and was regarded as Talbot's most diligent student. Windle trained with a determination that often saw him swim through others who were in his training lane. These collisions led to complaints by recreational swimmers that Windle was too aggressive. He often did twice as much pre-season training as the other swimmers in Talbot's squad. According to Talbot, Windle's weakness was that he was only capable of swimming in two ways, flat out or very slowly. Windle had trouble in pacing himself to conserve energy for later events. Talbot lamented to "never astute enough to realise that he didn't have the subtleties of pace that would have added to his armament as a swimmer".