Early Life
Growing up in Melbourne, Beaurepaire was educated at Albert Park State School and Wesley College.
He had his first swimming lesson at the age of four, when his father dropped him into the sea water baths at South Melbourne with a rope tied around his waist. He often practised in the sea, close to where effluent was ejected into Port Phillip Bay. Later, when he had earned more money, he paid two cents to enter the now demolished Stubbs' South Melbourne Baths to train. His career was nearly ended when he was hospitalized for 12 months with rheumatic fever. However, encouraged by his schoolteacher and South Melbourne barber Tommy Horlock, who later became his coach, Beaurepaire fought off the ailment and resumed training with the Albert Park State School Swimming Club.
Read more about this topic: Frank Beaurepaire
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