David Haller (swimmer)
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(Western Secondary)
(Southampton Swim Club)
(City of Cardiff Swim Club)
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | David Joseph George Haller |
| Nationality | British |
| Born | 27 January 1945 Southampton, Hampshire[1] |
| Occupation(s) | Club & Olympic Coach (Western Secondary) (Southampton Swim Club) (City of Cardiff Swim Club) |
| Height | 184 cm (6 ft 0 in) |
| Weight | 79 kg (174 lb) |
Spouse | Mary Helen Laity (1968) |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Swimming |
Event | 100 freestyle |
| Strokes | Freestyle |
| Club | Southampton Swim Club |
| Coach | Deryk Snelling (Southampton, British Nat. Team) |
David Joseph George Haller MBE[2] (born 27 January 1945) is a British former swimmer and swimming coach who represented Great Britain in the 100-meter freestyle at the 1964 Olympics. He swam the 100-meter freestyle representing Britain in the 1964 Summer Olympics, and coached swimming for the City of Cardiff, Wales, and for the British National team at ten Olympic Games.[3][4] An exceptionally successful coach in mentoring champions, Haller produced a swimmer for every Olympic Games from 1968 through 2012.[1]
Haller was born 27 January 1945 in Southampton, Hampshire, Great Britain, though he grew up in the nearby coastal town of Penarth, Wales.[1][5][4] He attended High School at the Taunton School, South of Penarth across the Bristol Channel in Taunton, Somerset, where he set numerous swimming and athletic records. He was a member of Southampton Athletic Club where he was a Hampshire Junior Javelin Champion and secured the Southampton Javelin record with a 189-foot throw. A multi-sport athlete in his youth, he played basketball for the Solent Club and played football for his High School team, the Old Tauntonians. After 1962, by the age of 17, he trained in swimming with Hall of Fame Coach Deryk Snelling's at the Southampton Swimming Club, which was one of Snellings earliest coaching positions. Haller made steady progress under Snelling, and by May 1963 was only 1.2 seconds away from breaking the British record for the 110-yard freestyle.[6] In 1964, he broke the British 110-yard freestyle record with a time of 55.8 seconds, and was later selected for the 1964 British Olympic Swimming team.[7][8]
While swimming for the British National Team, Haller continued to be trained by Deryk Snelling in the 1960s while Haller and National teammate Keith Buley worked out while they trained for the 1964 Olympics. Snelling, a stroke specialist and author on swimming, believed the system he used to train swimmers, gave Dave Haller the essential knowledge to later become an effective coach. Like Haller, Snelling used a method to train his swimmers consisting of careful teaching of mechanics, improving conditioning, imbuing mental toughness, focus, and endurance and instilling team spirit. Haller, like Snelling tried not to appear overly strict or brutal to his swimmers.[9]
1964 Tokyo Olympics
On October 12, 1964, Haller competed for Great Britain in the men's 100 metre freestyle at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, tying for 47th place overall with Ralph Hutton of Canada, while recording a time of 57.7.[3][5]
At 24, on July 27, 1968, while he was working as Southampton Swimming Club's coach, he married Miss Mary Helen Laity, originally of Surrey, at the Southampton Civic Center. Mary Laity, like David was a resident of Carlton-court, Southampton where she had resided for two years, and shared his interest in swimming at the Southampton Swimming Club.[10]