Frederick Lane

Frederick Claude Vivian Lane (2 February 1880 – 14 May 1969) was an Australian swimmer who competed at the 1900 Summer Olympics.

Lane, from Manly, New South Wales, when aged 4 years old his brother saved him from drowning in Sydney Harbour and so decided to learn to swim, he later attended high school at Saint Ignatius' College, Riverview.

After breaking many Australasian swimming records he moved to England to compete in the English Championships in 1899.

He was the first Australian to represent his country in swimming at the Olympic Games, when he competed at the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris, and won two gold medals. He first won the 200 metres freestyle, clearly beating Hungarian Zoltán Halmay. His second final was just 45 minutes later, the discontinued 200 metre obstacle event, where he beat Austrian Otto Wahle.

After the Olympics, Lane stayed in England for another two years working for a legal firm in Blackpool while to continued to swim and break records, in July 1902 he won a 100 yard race and became the first person to record one minute dead for that distance, in August he then swam 220 yards in 2 minutes 28.6 seconds, which in 1974 was ratified by FINA as the first World Record for 200 metres, and then in October he broke the one minute barrier for 100 yards swimming it in 59.6 seconds.

On returning to Australia, Lane became a master printer and a partner in a printing and stationary firm on Bridge Street, Sydney, he married in 1908, and when he died at Avalon, New South Wales in 1969 he was survived by a son and a daughter. Later in 1969 he was honoured by the International Swimming Hall of Fame in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

On the 10th December 1985 he was inducted to the Sport Australia Hall of Fame.