AUSTRALIA. — Frederick ‘Freddie’ Claude Vivian Lane was born on February 2, 1879, in Sydney. Lane’s earliest swimming instruction came when, at the age of 4, his brother saved him from drowning in Sydney Harbour.
His first major championship was achieved at the age of 13, when he won the All-Schools’ handicap race.
He continued to progress, setting new records and winning further championships. In his late teens, he won national titles in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. He set an Australasian record of 64.8 seconds for the 100 yards freestyle, won the Australasian 100 yards title at Christchurch in New Zealand, and went on to win State freestyle titles.
He set another record at the 1899 English championships when he won the 220 yards freestyle title in 2 minutes, 38.2 seconds. He also won the 440 yards salt-water title.
It was while attending the prestigious British championships that Lane was recruited, as part of the British swimming team, for the second modern Olympics held in Paris in 1900.
On July 22, 1900, he became the first Australian swimmer to win Gold.
He beat Hungarian Zoltan Halmay by 5.8 seconds in the 200-metre freestyle with a time of 2 minutes, 25.2 seconds. Just 45 minutes after this race, he won his second Gold, beating Austrian Otto Wahle in the 200-metre obstacle race.
In 1902, Lane became the first to swim the 100-yard freestyle in under a minute, in the record time of 59.6 seconds. He continued a successful European tour, and by the time he returned to Australia, he had accumulated a total of about 350 trophies, including over 100 medals.
He did not continue his sporting career, but returned to Australia to become a master printer and partner in the printing and stationery firm Smith & Lane of Bridge Street, Sydney.
His name is engraved on the World Trophy, originally known as the Helms Award, for 1900.
In 1969, the year of his death, he was honoured by the International Swimming Hall of Fame at Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
