Laurie Lawrence voice beams with enthusiasm, pride and with the feeling that nothing easy is worth doing. It is defying the odds… doing the impossible that excites him. He is the master innovator. He inspires confidence and belief. No challenge is too great, no task is impossible. Everyone around him soaks in his enthusiasm.

And that is just what Laurie has done – create the atmosphere for his swimmers to succeed. To some people, Laurie is a crazy, over-competitive mad man. But his shining side, his greatest asset, is his ability and attitude in helping young Australians achieve their goals. He is the kind of coach who could have coached in any sport and been successful. Even from his own competitive days as an athlete playing rugby for his country, it was winning for Australia that counted for Laurie. Displaying typical grit and determination, Laurie fought for and gained a place as half back in the Wallabies team which toured New Zealand in 1964.

Win and produce winners is what he did, and in a way that only Laurie could do. His first big charge was Helen Gray, whom he shocked in 1970 by throwing her Queensland silver medal over the fence as his way of saying, “Don’t be complacent. You can be a medallist at the Commonwealth Games if you re-focus, work hard.” She did, winning silver in the 800m freestyle and a birth on the 1972 Olympic team.

His swimmers include Steve Holland, the youngest ever world record holder at age 15 who set 11 world records in the 800m and 1500m freestyles, and was a World Championship and Commonwealth Games gold medallist, and an Olympic bronze medallist; Tracy Wickham, five time world record holder for nine and a half years in the distance freestyle events, World Championship and Commonwealth Games gold medallist; Jon Seiben who at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics beat Michael Gross of Germany in the 200m butterfly, setting a new world record; Duncan Armstrong, Seoul’s 200m freestyle gold medallist and 400m silver medallist and world record holder in the process.