Swimmer;
Born: January 6, 1939, Died: April 15, 2012.
Murray Rose, who has died aged 73 of leukaemia, was a Scots-born four-time Olympic champion distance swimmer.
Swimming for Australia he won three golds at the 1956 Melbourne Games, becoming a national hero at 17.
He won a gold, silver and bronze four years later in Rome. His golds in 1956 came in the 400 and 1500 metre freestyle events and the 4 x 200 metre freestyle relay. In Rome, he won the 400 free, took silver in the 1500 and bronze in the 4 x 200 free relay.
Rose eventually set 15 world records, including marks in the 400, 800, and 1500 metre freestyles. He represented Australia for the last time at the 1962 Commonwealth Games in Perth, winning all four of his events.
Born in Nairn, Iain Murray Rose and his family moved to Australia shortly after the war and he began swimming as a child. After the Melbourne Olympics, he moved to the United States to attend the University of Southern California. He continued competing while at the Los Angeles school, where he studied drama and television and graduated in 1962.
In a joint statement, Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Sports Minister Kate Lundy said Australia had lost one of its greatOlympians."Murray was a true pioneer of Australian swimming and his impressive feats in the pool helped to shape Australia's destiny as a successful sporting nation," the statement said. "There is no disputing that the Olympian was a champion in the pool, but Murray also made an immense contribution to the community through charity work and as patron of The Rainbow Club, which teaches children with a disability to swim."
Rose adhered to a vegan lifestyle during his career, earning the nickname The Seaweed Streak and continued swimming into his later years in masters competitions.
He was one of eight people who carried the Olympic flag at the opening ceremony for the 2000 Sydney Games and appeared with other Australian Olympic stars on postage stamps to commemorate the games.
He also appeared on Groucho Marx's radio programme You Bet Your Life, and appeared in the 1964 film, Ride the Wild Surf. He is survived by his wife Jodi and son Trevor.
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