Education
He finished fourth in the final, just 0.1 of a second behind the bronze medalist Charis Yunichev of the Soviet Union.
He finished fourth in the final, just 0.1 of a second behind the bronze medalist Charis Yunichev of the Soviet Union.
He later became a swimming coach, at one stage being the Australian female team coach for the 1964 Summer Olympics and guiding numerous breaststroke students to Olympic and World Championship gold medals. He also served as the president of Swimming Australia. He made his international debut at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, contesting the 200-metre breaststroke, at the first Olympics in which the butterfly stroke was separated from breaststroke swimming.
Gathercole reached the peak of his swimming career in 1958 when he set the world record for the 200-metre breaststroke at the Tobruk Pool in Townsville, Queensland.
He held this world record for over three years. However, in the final he only managed sixth, almost three seconds behind Bill Mulliken of the United States.
Gathercole then combined with David Theile, Neville Hayes and Geoff Shipton to claim silver in the 4x100m medley relay, again behind the Americans. Gathercole had at various times in his career held the world record in the 200-metre, 110- and 220-yard breaststroke.
Gathercole then became a coach, beginning as an assistant to Forbes Carlile.
At the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, the Australian Olympic Federation agreed to appoint team coaches for the first time. Gathercole was named as the national women"s coach. He served as a coach for the national team for 28 years until his retirement in 1992.
He was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame as an "Honor Swimmer" in 1985.
He died in 2001 because of heart problems, an illness which he had carried for 15 years after requiring open-heart surgery. A public memorial service at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra, where he coached, was attended by Prime Minister John Howard and several federal cabinet ministers.