Speaker 1: In a small town in the north of France stands
Speaker 1: a statue. It's a memorial honoring a fallen hero. It
Speaker 1: depicts a soldier in uniform holding a wreath, his head
Speaker 1: angled slightly upward and a look of pride on his face.
Speaker 1: A plaque bears the name Cecil Heey, an Australian. What's
Speaker 1: a monument to an ossie doing in the French countryside. Well,
Speaker 1: it's a story that goes back more than one hundred years.
Speaker 1: It starts in the suburbs of Sydney and ends on
Speaker 1: a battlefield at the height of World War One. Cecil
Speaker 1: Heey wasn't just a soldier. He was a champion athlete
Speaker 1: who embodied sportsmanship and made Olympic history. Tony Armstrong and
Speaker 1: welcome to the pool room. This is where we celebrate
Speaker 1: the winners, losers and the weird stuff between. If you
Speaker 1: haven't heard of Cecil Healy until now, that's okay. He
Speaker 1: was breaking records before there was even official record keeping.
Speaker 1: Cecil's story begins in Sydney. As a teenager, he was
Speaker 1: a member of the East Sydney Swimming Club. Cecil loved
Speaker 1: the water and was always a strong swimmer. By his
Speaker 1: early twenties, he joined his local surf Life Saving club,
Speaker 1: where he put his talent to good use, entering competitions
Speaker 1: and saving lives on the beach. In nineteen oh four,
Speaker 1: Cecil set an unofficial record of fifty eight seconds in
Speaker 1: the one hundred yards freestyle. The following year, he posted
Speaker 1: the same time in the one hundred and ten yards freestyle.
Speaker 1: This time it was the Australasian Championships, marking Cecil's first
Speaker 1: official swimming title. He adopted the front crawl stroke, which
Speaker 1: was a new style of swimming at the time. While
Speaker 1: traditionalists looked down on the stroke, Cecil embraced it and
Speaker 1: continued to dominate the national championships he won in nineteen
Speaker 1: oh six, nineteen oh eight and nineteen ten. Having missed
Speaker 1: out on the nineteen oh eight Olympics because he couldn't
Speaker 1: afford to travel, Cecil was stoked to qualify for the
Speaker 1: nineteen twelve Games in Stockholm. He was part of the
Speaker 1: joint Australia and New Zealand team, which comprised of just
Speaker 1: twenty six athletes across four events athletics, rowing, tennis and swimming.
Speaker 1: First up was Cecil's specialty, the one hundred meter freestyle.
Speaker 1: He was placed into heap four along with two Americans,
Speaker 1: a Swede, and a German. Only the top two in
Speaker 1: each heat would advance through to the next round. Cecil
Speaker 1: finished second with a time of one minute and five
Speaker 1: point two seconds, meaning he qualified for the quarter finals.
Speaker 1: His three fellow countrymen finished first or second in their
Speaker 1: respective heats. In the quarters, Cecil just managed to progress,
Speaker 1: placing third behind two Americans by milliseconds. Then, in the
Speaker 1: semifinals came one of the most controversial moments of the
Speaker 1: Games that ultimately turned into one of the most inspirational.
Speaker 1: Cecil lined up for the first semifinal alongside a German
Speaker 1: and his assie teammate William Longworth. This time it was
Speaker 1: Cecil who placed first one minute and five point six seconds.
Speaker 1: He was through to the final for a shot at
Speaker 1: the gold medal. In the next semifinal, three Americans were
Speaker 1: set to face off, but there was just one problem.
Speaker 1: They were running late, including their star athlete Duke Kahanamoku,
Speaker 1: who was the clear favorite to win gold. He was
Speaker 1: also the guy who popularized surfing. True story. Anyway, it
Speaker 1: turned out the Americans had confused the start time of
Speaker 1: the race for a session later in the day, they
Speaker 1: were disqualified for failing to turn up, and the second
Speaker 1: semifinal went ahead without them, leaving one German to swim alone.
Speaker 1: It was good news for Cecil Healy, Duke Kahanamoku, his
Speaker 1: biggest competitor, was now out of the running. He had
Speaker 1: a clear shot at the gold but Cecil didn't see
Speaker 1: it that way. Instead, he came forward in support of
Speaker 1: the Americans. Cecil pleaded for them to be given another chance.
Speaker 1: It was unprecedented. I mean, if your opponent makes a mistake,
Speaker 1: that's on them. You accept the good fortune and seize
Speaker 1: the opportunity. Right. Well, not Cecil. He thought the Americans
Speaker 1: deserved to be in the final. He felt it'd be
Speaker 1: unsportsmanlike to prevent them from competing because of a simple,
Speaker 1: honest mistake that anyone could have made. Cecil was so
Speaker 1: insistent that the matter was referred to Olympic officials, and
Speaker 1: rather than dismissed the case outright, they actually listened, much
Speaker 1: to the disappointment of the German team. Remarkably, the officials
Speaker 1: ordered for a special third semi final to be held,
Speaker 1: giving the Americans as second chance. The top two finishes
Speaker 1: would join Cecil, the two Germans and William Longworth in
Speaker 1: the final round. Unsurprisingly, it was Duke Kahanamoku who finished first,
Speaker 1: all thanks to Cecil Heeley's selfless act. Now, if you're
Speaker 1: hoping Kahanamoku returned the favor in the final think again.
Speaker 1: Kahanamoku outpaced his competitors to snatch the gold medal by
Speaker 1: one point two seconds. Cecil came second. Cecil Heeley showed
Speaker 1: that some things are more important than winning, symbolizing the
Speaker 1: Olympic spirit, and he still managed to take home a
Speaker 1: gold medal. From Stockholm, Cecil and the Australasian team won
Speaker 1: the men's four by two hundred meter freestyle relay, beating
Speaker 1: the United States and setting a new world record in
Speaker 1: the process. Cecil Heeley continued to swim, entering the toughest
Speaker 1: competitions around the world, but five years later he was
Speaker 1: back in Europe for very different reasons. In nineteen fifteen,
Speaker 1: Cecil enlisted for the army and became an officer, initially
Speaker 1: serving in Egypt before being deployed to France. He fought
Speaker 1: on the battlefield of the River Somme, and that's also
Speaker 1: where he died. On the twenty ninth of August nineteen eighteen,
Speaker 1: Cecil was killed in action, the only Australian gold medalists
Speaker 1: to have died in war. He was just thirty six
Speaker 1: years old. Cecil Heeley was honored in the International Swimming
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame and the Sport Australia Hall of Fame.
Speaker 1: Australia's Olympic Committee even created an award in his name,
Speaker 1: the Cecil Heeley Award for outstairs Ending Sportsmanship, and on
Speaker 1: the one hundredth anniversary of his death, a statue of
Speaker 1: his likeness was unveiled in the French countryside in the
Speaker 1: same village where Cecil was laid to rest. The townspeople
Speaker 1: adopted this as a hero as one of their own,
Speaker 1: a swimming champion and a damn good sport. Thanks for
Speaker 1: listening to the pool room and iHeart production. Join me
Speaker 1: next time for another great sports yarn. I'm Tony Armstrong.
Speaker 1: Have a good one.