Neil Brooks
Encyclopedia
Neil Brooks is a former Australia
n sprint freestyle swimmer
best known for winning the 4 × 100 m medley relay at the 1980 Olympics
in Moscow
as part of the Quietly Confident Quartet
. Brooks was as much known for his swimming achievements as he was for disciplinary incidents. He often found himself in conflict with officialdom and threatened with sanctions. His international career ended when he was suspended for drinking 46 cans of beer on the return flight to Australia after the 1986 Commonwealth Games
. In retirement, he became a news presenter and sports commentator, but was fired amid alcohol problems.
Born in England, Brooks emigrated to Australia as a toddler and started swimming lessons after nearly drowning in a childhood accident. After initially being known for his lack of technique, Brooks quickly rose through the youth ranks. Brooks made his debut at the Australian Championships in 1976, but it was not until 1979 that he medalled at national level and made his debut for Australia at a FINA (Fédération Internationale de Natation) Swimming World Cup
meet. In 1980, he gained prominence by breaking the Australian record in the 100 m freestyle and being invited to a national team camp. There he had his first clash with officialdom, walking out after accusing the officials of neglecting him. He then qualified for the Australian team for the 1980 Moscow Olympics, defying political pressure to boycott the Games in the wake of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Arriving in Moscow, Brooks' experience in the 100 m freestyle was an unpleasant one, suffering an asthma attack and missing the final. The peak of his swimming career came in the 4 × 100 m medley relay, when he caught and passed the Soviet Union
's Sergey Kopliakov
during the anchor leg to seal a narrow victory for Australia. This victory remains the only time that the United States
did not win the event at Olympic level.
Following the Olympics, Brooks was expelled from the Australian Institute of Sport
by Don Talbot
for disciplinary reasons. He accepted a swimming scholarship at the University of Arkansas
, where he enjoyed the more liberal disciplinary standards. He returned to Australia for the 1982 Commonwealth Games
in Brisbane
and again raised the ire of officials during a preparatory training camp. After lobbying for improved accommodation conditions, Brooks was involved in a physical altercation with the team manager. As a result, he was given a suspension that was to take effect after the Commonwealth Games. However, his teammates protested and threatened to walk out, resulting in the ban being rescinded. Despite the turbulent preparation, Brooks had a successful meet, winning the 100 m freestyle and anchoring the 4 × 100 m freestyle and medley relays to gold medals. Brooks competed at his second Olympics in Los Angeles in 1984 Games
, where he won silver in the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay and bronze for swimming the heats of the medley relay. Brooks' international career ended at the 1986 Commonwealth Games
in Edinburgh
with silver in the 100 m freestyle and gold in the freestyle relay. Brooks retired after being suspended for his drinking binge during the return trip. He later became a swimming commentator but was sacked in 1998 after a disciplinary incident.
An only child, Brooks was born in Crewe
, England, before migrating to Western Australia
when he was four, along with his working-class parents Mick and Norah. His first aquatic adventure was almost his last. Aged seven, he was playing with a friend on the shore of the Swan River
when they climbed into a boat that drifted deeper into water and overturned. Brooks was forced to cling to the boat as his friend swam ashore to seek help. His parents immediately enrolled him in swimming lessons at the Marylands Swim Club. Shortly after, he switched to the tutelage of Kevin Duff, who coached him for the next fifteen years. After just six weeks under Duff, Brooks came third in the 50 m breaststroke at the State Age Championships. Despite coaching the likes of Olympic medallists Kevin O'Halloran
, Lyn McClements
, David Dickson
and Lynne Watson
, Duff was virtually unknown outside Western Australia. Brooks was known for his rebellious nature, and had a glowing assessment of his coach, opining that "He's not pushy like many other Australian coaches and he's not in the politics of Australian swimming".
Brooks attended Hale Primary School and trained at Beatty Park Pool
, routinely dominating the State Age Championships. He won bronze in the 100 m and 200 m backstroke, and silver in the 200 m freestyle at the 1974 Australian Age Championships. Owing to a lack of style, he was known during his primary school years as "Basher Brooks", but by the start of high school, his stroke had become more technically refined. Nevertheless, he was always confident in his mental ability, stating "before I just swam on guts, now I had the stroke as well as the guts. I was always the toughest kid in the race."
At the age of 13, Brooks suffered a loss of confidence. After being champion in all four strokes for the previous four years, he was now frequently losing. The other children had grown more at the start of their adolescence and he was struggling to match them. Within a year, Brooks' physical growth began to catch up and he started to regain the dominant position. He also switched from distance to sprint events.
in Montreal
. In the same year, the Australian team came to Perth for its pre-Olympic training camp and were billeted in the homes of members of the local swimming community. Brooks' family took his future relay team-mate Mark Tonelli
, who had a reputation for indiscipline. Brooks, however, was inspired by Tonelli and cited him as a key motivating factor in him wanting to become an Olympian.
During the 1976–77 season, Brooks came to prominence as a possible Australian representative sprinter. He broke six records in winning two events at the 1977 Western Australian Championships. He swam the 100 m freestyle in 56.56 s, breaking the state records for 14, 15, and 16-year-olds, before repeating the achievement in the 200 m backstroke. Still aged 14, he competed at his second Australian Championships and came fourth in the 100 m freestyle. In 1978, he came third in the 100 m freestyle and missed selection for the 1978 Commonwealth Games
in Edmonton
, Canada by 0.03 s. He spent the rest of the year training and studying accounting at Leederville Technical College. During the year, Brooks set Australian age group records in the 200 m individual medley, the 200 m backstroke and the 100 m freestyle. At the inaugural Australian Short Course Championships in Launceston
in 1979, he won silver in the 200 m individual medley and bronze in the 100 m freestyle. His performances earned him selection in the Australian team for the first time, competing in the FINA Swimming World Cup
event in Tokyo
in April 1979, aged 16 years and nine months.
Aged 17, Brooks swam 51.91 s in Perth in January 1980, breaking Tonelli's Australian record in the 100 m freestyle. As a result, he was invited to his first national training camp under Bill Sweetenham
for prospective Olympic swimmers. He had the first of his many clashes with sporting administrators, first claiming that the officials did not want him to board with Tonelli's family and then stating that Sweetenham had only coached him two or three times, which he felt was insufficient. Brooks walked out of the camp and returned to Perth to train under Duff. At the Australian Championships, the 100 m was seen as a clash between Tonelli and Brooks. The latter came second in the 100 m freestyle, outsprinted in the dying stages by Tonelli, who reclaimed his national record in a time of 51.80 s. As a result, Brooks was selected in both the individual event and the 4 × 100 m medley relay.
However, another obstacle arose with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, which resulted in a boycott of the Games by a large part of the Western World, led by the United States. The Australian Prime Minister
Malcolm Fraser
was also the patron of the Australian Olympic Committee
, and significant political pressure came to bear on the athletes to boycott the Games. Tonelli, however, realised that only the sportspeople would suffer from a boycott and that trade relations would continue unabated. He took a leadership role among the athletes to fight for their right to compete.
, and their boycott had opened up the field in the event. In the five times the event had been contested, Australia's best result was a silver in the inaugural race. A bronze in 1964 was the only other medal success and the 1976 edition of the medley relay had seen Australia eliminated in the heats. This time, Australia were regarded as a medal chance, but were not seen as the main threats; Sweden, Great Britain and the Soviet Union were the most heavily fancied teams. The hosts boasted the silver medallists in the 100 m backstroke and breaststroke, and their butterflyer had come fifth; their freestyler would place fourth a few days later. The British had Duncan Goodhew
, the breaststroke gold medallist, while Sweden's butterflyer and backstroker had won their respective events and their freestyle swimmer would come second in the 100 m. On paper, Australia's team paled in comparison. Peter Evans
was the only individual medallist over a 100 m race, claiming bronze in the breaststroke. Mark Kerry
had been eliminated in the backstroke semifinals, while Tonelli was swimming as a makeshift butterflyer, despite having performed better than Kerry in the 100 m backstroke. Adding to the pressure was the fact that Australia won no gold medals at the 1976 Olympics in any sport, and were yet to win in Moscow, so the public were still awaiting their first victory since Munich in 1972
. Coming into the Olympics, Australia were ranked seventh out of the thirteen competing countries. Australia's prospects improved after the morning heats in which Sweden was disqualified. Tonelli, the eldest swimmer in the quartet at the age of 23, convened the team as its de facto leader. He asked his team-mates to commit to swimming their legs in a certain time; Kerry vowed to swim the backstroke in 57 s, Evans the breaststroke in 63 s flat, Tonelli the butterfly in 54 s and Brooks promised to anchor the team in 49.8 s, even though he had never gone faster than 51 s. Tonelli named the foursome as the Quietly Confident Quartet, and they exhibited a quiet confidence as they lined up for the race.
Kerry led off in a faster time than he had clocked in the individual event, but it was still two seconds slower than his personal best time of 57.87 s. This left Australia in fourth place at the end of the first leg. Evans then swam a personal best of 63.01 s, leaving the team almost level with the host nation at the halfway mark. Tonelli then swam his leg in 54.94 s, almost two seconds faster than his previous best. He did so with an uneven arm technique due to the disparity in the strength of his arms. He began to lose ground in the last 50 m and was a bodylength behind until a late surge brought him to within a metre of the lead by the end of his leg. Brooks then made a powerful, well-timed dive and surfaced almost even with his Soviet counterpart. At the halfway mark, he had drawn level and made a superior turn to take the lead. The Soviet freestyler Kopliakov pulled level at the 25 m mark before Brooks again sprinted away to seal an Australian victory by 0.22 s. He did not breathe in the last ten metres, and claimed to be laughing for the final five metres, confident that his opponent could not pass him. The Australian freestyler had finished his leg in 49.86 s as he had vowed to his team mates. The time of 3 m 45.70 s sealed Australia's first ever win in a medley relay at the Olympics, for men or women. Brooks dedicated the team's win to his mother, who had died from cancer the previous Christmas. Upon returning to Australia, he was greeted as a hero, but he considered retiring due to waning desire for success after his triumph in Moscow. In 2000, Brooks and the other members of the quartet were each awarded the Australian Sports Medal
for their victory in Moscow.
In the individual event, which occurred after the relay, Brooks had come equal first in his heat with eventual bronze medallist Per Johansson
from Sweden
in a time of 52.11 s. This made him the seventh fastest qualifier for the semi-finals, but he suffered a severe asthma attack and had to be hospitalised. He swam the semi-final regardless, despite having a heart-rate before the start of race of 120, compared to his usual 72. He finished seventh in a time of 52.70 s, which saw him place 14th, missing the final by 0.83 s.
by swimming coaches Bill Sweetenham
and Dennis Pursley, but his stay was brief. The inaugural director Don Talbot
, a former head coach of the Australian swimming team, expelled him for indiscipline. He then won the 1981 Australian title in the 100 m freestyle without training, but his time of 52.61 s was substantially slower than his personal best. Brooks then accepted a scholarship to go to the University of Arkansas
to train under Sam Freas. He enjoyed the more liberal culture in the American collegiate system, particularly the relationship between swimmers and their coaches. He enjoyed the less paternalistic treatment that the coaches accorded to their swimmers, saying that "In Australia, after a race they want to lock you in your room. In America, you can share a beer after the meet with the coach." The shortcourse pools
used in the United States played into the hands of Brooks, as his strong legs gave him an advantage in pushing away from the turns, which came twice as often in comparison to longcourse (50 m) pools. He had initially planned to stay in the United States for only a year, but decided to extend his stay by a year, having enjoyed the high frequency of racing and the recognition accorded to university athletes in the United States. In both years, he won the 50 m and 100 m freestyle double in the Southwest Conference, and was fourth in the 100 m freestyle at the 1981 National Collegiate Athletic Association
(NCAA) Championships. He also came second in the 100 m freestyle at the AACC Championships to Rowdy Gaines
, who went on to win the event at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.
Despite his successes in America, the Australian Swimming Union
did not offer to fund a return home for Brooks for the 1982 Australian Championships, but the University of Arkansas paid his fare as a reward for his performances in collegiate competition. Despite failing to defend his 100 m title, he successfully qualified for the 1982 Commonwealth Games
in Brisbane
. The team then went into a five-week training camp in the seaside Sydney
suburb of South Coogee. The team resided at a migrant hostel, which at the time was primarily occupied by Vietnamese refugees from the Vietnam War
. Brooks spoke out about the quality of the accommodation, leading officials to make improvements.
Arriving in Brisbane for the Commonwealth Games, Brooks and some of his fellow sprinters shaved their heads, something that received much attention from the Australian public. He won his heat of the 100 m freestyle in a Commonwealth and Commonwealth Games record of 51.09 s. He swam slower in the final, but his time of 51.14 s was enough to secure the gold medal in a close contest. Just 0.43 s separated him and the bronze and silver medallists Greg Fasala
and Michael Delany
, both of Australia.
Brooks then won gold as part of the winning 4 × 100 m freestyle relay, anchoring the team of Fasala, Delany and Graeme Brewer
to a victory by almost three seconds, putting in a split of 50.56 s. The shaven-headed quartet was dubbed the Mean Machine. He collected another gold in the medley relay, combining with David Orbell, Evans and Jon Sieben
, this time completing his freestyle anchor leg in 50.44 s. Canada had finished the race far ahead of the Australians, but were disqualified for an early changeover. After the games, Brooks completed the American college season before returning to Australia. He was named as Western Australia's Sportsman of the Year.
and Delany, missing individual selection by 0.05 s. The trio was separated by a total of only 0.15 s. Selected as a relay swimmer only, he went to Los Angeles hoping to win the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay, an event that the United States had always won.
During the heats, the Australian team of Brooks, Fasala, Delany and Stockwell showed their intention to deny the Americans the gold for the first time at Olympic level. Drawn alongside the Americans in the third and final heat, the Australians set a new Olympic record of 3 m 19.94 s. Brooks led off in the heat, setting a time of 50.36 s, before Stockwell made up a deficit of 0.41 s during the anchor leg to beat the hosts by 0.20 s. Australia and the United States had stamped their authority on the event, qualifying almost four seconds faster than third-placed Sweden. However, the Americans had more speed in reserve, having rested 200 m freestyle silver medalist Mike Heath
and 100 m freestyle gold medallist Rowdy Gaines, whereas Australia used its full-strength team.
In the final, Australian coach Terry Buck
switched the swimming order, putting Fasala as the leadoff leg, while the Americans brought in Heath and Gaines. Fasala's time of 51.00 s put the Australians second at the first change, behind the Americans, for whom Chris Cavanaugh
had built a 0.17 s lead. After the first leg, the race was still close—0.90 s separated all the teams. Brooks completed his leg in 49.36 s, the fourth fastest in the race, 0.24 s faster than his American counterpart Heath, giving the Australians a slender 0.07 s lead at the halfway point. Australia and the United States had broken away from the field, which was now the best part of two seconds in arrears. However, the Australian lead was short-lived. Matt Biondi
took 0.59 s from Delany and Gaines took another 0.13 s from Stockwell, as the United States won in a world record time of 3 m 19.03 s. Australia were 0.65 s behind with Sweden a further 2.99 s in arrears. Brooks remained adamant that either he or Stockwell should have led off, stating that "the gold was there for the taking".
Brooks collected a bronze in the medley relay after swimming the freestyle leg in the heats before being replaced by first-choice Stockwell in the final. Competing in the third and final heat, Australia and the United States were equal at the last change before Brooks posted the fastest freestyle leg in the heats, pulling out a 0.40 s margin over Tom Jager
. Australia again qualified fastest, but the Americans again had more in reserve, having rested all of their first-choice quartet in the heats. Stockwell combined with Kerry, Evans and Glenn Buchanan
to finish behind the United States and Canada in the final, missing silver by just 0.02 s. Australia improved on their qualifying time by only 0.68 s, while the Americans sped up by 5.03 s.
In 1985, Brooks dead-heated with Stockwell in the 100 m freestyle at the Australian Championships
, clocking a time of 51.12 s. He then combined with Tom Stachewicz, Paul Lee and Barry Armstrong, as Western Australia won the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay for the first time. Brooks maintained his form and despite not defending his Australian 100 m title, was selected for the 1986 Commonwealth Games
in Edinburgh
, where he came second to Fasala in the 100 m freestyle in a time of 51.01 s. He claimed gold in the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay along with Fasala, Stockwell and Matthew Renshaw, anchoring the quartet in setting a Commonwealth Games record. On the return flight, he consumed 46 cans of beer and was banned for six months after he talked about the incident during a television interview. In his memoirs, Talbot, a non-drinker, cited Brooks and his Mean Machine teammates as being one of the biggest proponents of a hard-drinking culture that had permeated the Australian swimming scene at the time. In particular, he singled out Brooks as being a focal point of disruptive activity during his time at the Australian Institute of Sport. Talbot sees alcohol as the main reason behind the collapse of Australia's standing in the swimming world in the 1970s and the subsequent prolonged period of international uncompetitiveness in the 1980s.
and starting a rock band called The Union. He played the electric guitar, and also wrote his own music and songs. He also represented Western Australia in water polo
and indoor cricket
and played Australian rules football
at district level.
Having graduated from the University of Arkansas with a degree in journalism in 1985, Brooks entered the media. Before his graduation, he had been a cadet with the Seven Network
in Perth for five years, reading the sports segment on the weekday evening news. He was a television commentator at the 1988, 1992 and 1996 Summer Olympics. Aside from covering the swimming and water polo, he also commentated on volleyball and in 1998, he called various downhill skiing events at the Nagano Winter Olympics
. Domestically, Brooks called Australian Football League
matches and read the sports segment on the weekday evening news for the Seven Network. For three years, he hosted Brooksy's Footy Show, a Western Australian travel/holiday show called Wild West, and in the lead-up to the Sydney Olympics, co-hosted The Games with Tracey Holmes
.
However, Brooks' career began to unravel in the late-1990s. He became addicted to alcohol, leading to a series of on-screen incidents. He once read the sports news segment while inebriated, and was then involved in a drunken argument with the Nine Network
's Australian rules football pundit Sam Newman
. In early 1999, Seven suspended Brooks from on-screen duties for six weeks after he made comments that they deemed to be "tasteless and offensive". In an interview with a magazine that had not been authorised by Seven, Brooks was asked what event he was looking forward to most at the 2000 Summer Olympics
in Sydney, and replied "The after-Olympics piss-up". He was eventually sacked, denying him the opportunity to commentate on the swimming events and costing him an annual salary of AUD700,000.
In late 2000, Brooks was declared bankrupt by the Federal Court in Perth after failing to repay a AUD14,941.64 debt to BankWest. In May 2001, the police raided Brooks' Perth home and found a metre-high cannabis
plant. Brooks claimed that the plant belonged to a friend, and then announced that he would be leaving the state. Having moved to South Australia
in 2003, Brooks started Local, which he billed as the state's leading lifestyle magazine. The venture was run solely by him and his wife, and was dominated by advertising. Journalist Peter FitzSimons
criticised the lack of grammar checking and copyediting, citing a quote from Kieren Perkins
, which was rendered thus in the publication: "I was over the moon. Winning is something you strive to do but when I consider all the factors being married two children twenty seven years of age competing in my third Games and I broke fifteen minutes twice in two days it really was quite outstanding and whichever way you cut it Grant Hackett was just the next generation of swimmer [sic]." Brooks stood 200 cm and weighed 95 kg during his career, but in the early part of the 21st century fought a battle with obesity, after ballooning to 150 kg. As of 2007, he had lost substantial weight and fought off his alcohol problems.
Brooks later became a partner in Nitro Energy Drink Company, which was involved in motorsport sponsorship. However, the firm suffered from financial trouble and he had a falling out with his business partner. In 2009, Brooks was removed from the board and the company was put into administration, and both he and his former partner have started legal proceedings.
Brooks' first marriage was to Lynette Quinlivan in January 1985. Their son Luke
is a member of the Australian water polo team
, playing as a goalkeeper. He has two other children from other relationships. In 2000, he married his third wife Linda.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n sprint freestyle swimmer
Freestyle swimming
Freestyle is an unregulated swimming style used in swimming competitions according to the rules of FINA. The front crawl stroke is almost universally used during a freestyle race, as this style is generally the fastest...
best known for winning the 4 × 100 m medley relay at the 1980 Olympics
1980 Summer Olympics
The 1980 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event celebrated in Moscow in the Soviet Union. In addition, the yachting events were held in Tallinn, and some of the preliminary matches and the quarter-finals of the football tournament...
in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
as part of the Quietly Confident Quartet
Quietly Confident Quartet
The Quietly Confident Quartet was the self-given name of the Australian men's 4 × 100 m medley relay swimming team that won the gold medal at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow...
. Brooks was as much known for his swimming achievements as he was for disciplinary incidents. He often found himself in conflict with officialdom and threatened with sanctions. His international career ended when he was suspended for drinking 46 cans of beer on the return flight to Australia after the 1986 Commonwealth Games
1986 Commonwealth Games
The 1986 Commonwealth Games were held in Edinburgh, Scotland for the second time. The Games were held from 24 July-2 August 1986.-Organisation and Controversy:...
. In retirement, he became a news presenter and sports commentator, but was fired amid alcohol problems.
Born in England, Brooks emigrated to Australia as a toddler and started swimming lessons after nearly drowning in a childhood accident. After initially being known for his lack of technique, Brooks quickly rose through the youth ranks. Brooks made his debut at the Australian Championships in 1976, but it was not until 1979 that he medalled at national level and made his debut for Australia at a FINA (Fédération Internationale de Natation) Swimming World Cup
FINA Swimming World Cup
The FINA Swimming World Cup is an international series of short course swimming meets organized by FINA, the International Federation for swimming...
meet. In 1980, he gained prominence by breaking the Australian record in the 100 m freestyle and being invited to a national team camp. There he had his first clash with officialdom, walking out after accusing the officials of neglecting him. He then qualified for the Australian team for the 1980 Moscow Olympics, defying political pressure to boycott the Games in the wake of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Arriving in Moscow, Brooks' experience in the 100 m freestyle was an unpleasant one, suffering an asthma attack and missing the final. The peak of his swimming career came in the 4 × 100 m medley relay, when he caught and passed the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
's Sergey Kopliakov
Sergey Kopliakov
Sergey Viktorovich Koplyakov is a former Soviet male swimmer who won two gold medals at the 1980 Summer Olympics.The arriving to the first page of the world swimming of Sergey Kopliakov in 1979...
during the anchor leg to seal a narrow victory for Australia. This victory remains the only time that the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
did not win the event at Olympic level.
Following the Olympics, Brooks was expelled from the Australian Institute of Sport
Australian Institute of Sport
The Australian Institute of Sport is a sports training institution in Australia with world class facilities and support services. The Institute's headquarters is situated in Canberra, the capital city of Australia. The 66.0 hectare site campus is in the northern suburb of Bruce, but some of the...
by Don Talbot
Don Talbot
Don Talbot OBE is an Olympic swimming coach from Australia. He has coached national teams for Canada and Australia.-Canada:Since the 1950s Talbot has coached Olympic champions and World Record holders for a thirty year period...
for disciplinary reasons. He accepted a swimming scholarship at the University of Arkansas
University of Arkansas
The University of Arkansas is a public, co-educational, land-grant, space-grant, research university. It is classified by the Carnegie Foundation as a research university with very high research activity. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and is located in...
, where he enjoyed the more liberal disciplinary standards. He returned to Australia for the 1982 Commonwealth Games
1982 Commonwealth Games
The 1982 Commonwealth Games were held in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia from 30 September–9 October 1982. The Opening Ceremony was held at the QEII Stadium , in the Brisbane suburb of Nathan. The QEII Stadium was also the venue which was used for the athletics and archery competitions during the...
in Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
and again raised the ire of officials during a preparatory training camp. After lobbying for improved accommodation conditions, Brooks was involved in a physical altercation with the team manager. As a result, he was given a suspension that was to take effect after the Commonwealth Games. However, his teammates protested and threatened to walk out, resulting in the ban being rescinded. Despite the turbulent preparation, Brooks had a successful meet, winning the 100 m freestyle and anchoring the 4 × 100 m freestyle and medley relays to gold medals. Brooks competed at his second Olympics in Los Angeles in 1984 Games
1984 Summer Olympics
The 1984 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIII Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event held in Los Angeles, California, United States in 1984...
, where he won silver in the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay and bronze for swimming the heats of the medley relay. Brooks' international career ended at the 1986 Commonwealth Games
1986 Commonwealth Games
The 1986 Commonwealth Games were held in Edinburgh, Scotland for the second time. The Games were held from 24 July-2 August 1986.-Organisation and Controversy:...
in Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
with silver in the 100 m freestyle and gold in the freestyle relay. Brooks retired after being suspended for his drinking binge during the return trip. He later became a swimming commentator but was sacked in 1998 after a disciplinary incident.
Early years
Crewe
Crewe is a railway town within the unitary authority area of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. According to the 2001 census the urban area had a population of 67,683...
, England, before migrating to Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
when he was four, along with his working-class parents Mick and Norah. His first aquatic adventure was almost his last. Aged seven, he was playing with a friend on the shore of the Swan River
Swan River (Western Australia)
The Swan River estuary flows through the city of Perth, in the south west of Western Australia. Its lower reaches are relatively wide and deep, with few constrictions, while the upper reaches are usually quite narrow and shallow....
when they climbed into a boat that drifted deeper into water and overturned. Brooks was forced to cling to the boat as his friend swam ashore to seek help. His parents immediately enrolled him in swimming lessons at the Marylands Swim Club. Shortly after, he switched to the tutelage of Kevin Duff, who coached him for the next fifteen years. After just six weeks under Duff, Brooks came third in the 50 m breaststroke at the State Age Championships. Despite coaching the likes of Olympic medallists Kevin O'Halloran
Kevin O'Halloran
Kevin O'Halloran was an Australian freestyle swimmer of the 1950s, who won a gold medal in the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne. The first Western Australian to win Olympic gold, O'Halloran learnt to swim in his home town of Katanning...
, Lyn McClements
Lyn McClements
Lynnette Velma McClements , was an Australian butterfly swimmer of the 1960s and 1970s who won a gold medal in the 100m butterfly at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics...
, David Dickson
David Dickson (swimmer)
David Dickson was an Australian freestyle swimmer of the 1960s, who won three bronze medals in freestyle and medley relay events at the 1960 Summer Olympics and the 1964 Summer Olympics in Rome and Tokyo respectively.-1960 Summer Olympics:Dickson was selected to make his international debut at...
and Lynne Watson
Lynne Watson
Lynne Watson , known after marriage as Lynne Bates was an Australian backstroke swimmer of the 1960s, who won a silver medal in the 4x100m medley relay at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, narrowly missing two more medals....
, Duff was virtually unknown outside Western Australia. Brooks was known for his rebellious nature, and had a glowing assessment of his coach, opining that "He's not pushy like many other Australian coaches and he's not in the politics of Australian swimming".
Brooks attended Hale Primary School and trained at Beatty Park Pool
Beatty Park
Beatty Park Leisure Centre is a swimming pool complex in the suburb of North Perth, Western Australia. The centre was built for the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games as the major swimming event venue, along with the Perry Lakes Stadium athletics complex.The centre was refurbished in 1994...
, routinely dominating the State Age Championships. He won bronze in the 100 m and 200 m backstroke, and silver in the 200 m freestyle at the 1974 Australian Age Championships. Owing to a lack of style, he was known during his primary school years as "Basher Brooks", but by the start of high school, his stroke had become more technically refined. Nevertheless, he was always confident in his mental ability, stating "before I just swam on guts, now I had the stroke as well as the guts. I was always the toughest kid in the race."
At the age of 13, Brooks suffered a loss of confidence. After being champion in all four strokes for the previous four years, he was now frequently losing. The other children had grown more at the start of their adolescence and he was struggling to match them. Within a year, Brooks' physical growth began to catch up and he started to regain the dominant position. He also switched from distance to sprint events.
National debut
In 1976, at the age of 13, Brooks competed at his first open Australian Championships, but did not gain any podium finishes and as such missed selection in the team for the 1976 Summer Olympics1976 Summer Olympics
The 1976 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXI Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event celebrated in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in 1976. Montreal was awarded the rights to the 1976 Games on May 12, 1970, at the 69th IOC Session in Amsterdam, over the bids of Moscow and...
in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
. In the same year, the Australian team came to Perth for its pre-Olympic training camp and were billeted in the homes of members of the local swimming community. Brooks' family took his future relay team-mate Mark Tonelli
Mark Tonelli
Mark Lyndon Tonelli is a former Australian backstroke, butterfly and freestyle swimmer of the 1970s and 1980s, who won a gold in the 4 × 100 m medley relay at the 1980 Moscow Olympics as a makeshift butterfly swimmer in the self-named Quietly Confident Quartet...
, who had a reputation for indiscipline. Brooks, however, was inspired by Tonelli and cited him as a key motivating factor in him wanting to become an Olympian.
During the 1976–77 season, Brooks came to prominence as a possible Australian representative sprinter. He broke six records in winning two events at the 1977 Western Australian Championships. He swam the 100 m freestyle in 56.56 s, breaking the state records for 14, 15, and 16-year-olds, before repeating the achievement in the 200 m backstroke. Still aged 14, he competed at his second Australian Championships and came fourth in the 100 m freestyle. In 1978, he came third in the 100 m freestyle and missed selection for the 1978 Commonwealth Games
1978 Commonwealth Games
The 1978 Commonwealth Games were held in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, from 3 to 12 August 1978, two years after the 1976 Summer Olympics were held in Montreal, Quebec...
in Edmonton
Edmonton
Edmonton is the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta and is the province's second-largest city. Edmonton is located on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Capital Region, which is surrounded by the central region of the province.The city and its census...
, Canada by 0.03 s. He spent the rest of the year training and studying accounting at Leederville Technical College. During the year, Brooks set Australian age group records in the 200 m individual medley, the 200 m backstroke and the 100 m freestyle. At the inaugural Australian Short Course Championships in Launceston
Launceston, Tasmania
Launceston is a city in the north of the state of Tasmania, Australia at the junction of the North Esk and South Esk rivers where they become the Tamar River. Launceston is the second largest city in Tasmania after the state capital Hobart...
in 1979, he won silver in the 200 m individual medley and bronze in the 100 m freestyle. His performances earned him selection in the Australian team for the first time, competing in the FINA Swimming World Cup
FINA Swimming World Cup
The FINA Swimming World Cup is an international series of short course swimming meets organized by FINA, the International Federation for swimming...
event in Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
in April 1979, aged 16 years and nine months.
Aged 17, Brooks swam 51.91 s in Perth in January 1980, breaking Tonelli's Australian record in the 100 m freestyle. As a result, he was invited to his first national training camp under Bill Sweetenham
Bill Sweetenham
Bill Sweetenham is a competitive swimming coach. He was the National Performance Director for British Swimming until 2007, having previously been the National Youth Coach for Swimming Australia.Sweetenham has worked directly with more than 40 Olympians....
for prospective Olympic swimmers. He had the first of his many clashes with sporting administrators, first claiming that the officials did not want him to board with Tonelli's family and then stating that Sweetenham had only coached him two or three times, which he felt was insufficient. Brooks walked out of the camp and returned to Perth to train under Duff. At the Australian Championships, the 100 m was seen as a clash between Tonelli and Brooks. The latter came second in the 100 m freestyle, outsprinted in the dying stages by Tonelli, who reclaimed his national record in a time of 51.80 s. As a result, Brooks was selected in both the individual event and the 4 × 100 m medley relay.
However, another obstacle arose with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, which resulted in a boycott of the Games by a large part of the Western World, led by the United States. The Australian Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Australia
The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia is the highest minister of the Crown, leader of the Cabinet and Head of Her Majesty's Australian Government, holding office on commission from the Governor-General of Australia. The office of Prime Minister is, in practice, the most powerful...
Malcolm Fraser
Malcolm Fraser
John Malcolm Fraser AC, CH, GCL, PC is a former Australian Liberal Party politician who was the 22nd Prime Minister of Australia. He came to power in the 1975 election following the dismissal of the Whitlam Labor government, in which he played a key role...
was also the patron of the Australian Olympic Committee
Australian Olympic Committee
The Australian Olympic Committee is the National Olympic Committee in Australia for the Olympic Games movement. It is a non-profit organisation that selects teams, and raises funds to send Australian competitors to Olympic events organised by the International Olympic Committee .-Background:The...
, and significant political pressure came to bear on the athletes to boycott the Games. Tonelli, however, realised that only the sportspeople would suffer from a boycott and that trade relations would continue unabated. He took a leadership role among the athletes to fight for their right to compete.
Moscow Olympics
The 4 × 100 m medley relay was the focal point of Brooks' Moscow campaign and it came only two days before his 18th birthday. The event had always been won by the United States since its inception at Olympic level in 1960Swimming at the 1960 Summer Olympics
At the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, 15 swimming events were contested, eight for men and seven for women. There was a total of 380 participants from 45 countries competing. For the first time, the 4×100 metres medley relay was contested...
, and their boycott had opened up the field in the event. In the five times the event had been contested, Australia's best result was a silver in the inaugural race. A bronze in 1964 was the only other medal success and the 1976 edition of the medley relay had seen Australia eliminated in the heats. This time, Australia were regarded as a medal chance, but were not seen as the main threats; Sweden, Great Britain and the Soviet Union were the most heavily fancied teams. The hosts boasted the silver medallists in the 100 m backstroke and breaststroke, and their butterflyer had come fifth; their freestyler would place fourth a few days later. The British had Duncan Goodhew
Duncan Goodhew
Duncan Alexander Goodhew MBE is a British swimming athlete. After swimming competitively in America as a collegian at North Carolina State University, he was an Olympic swimmer for Great Britain and won Olympic gold and bronze medals at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow.-Biography:Goodhew...
, the breaststroke gold medallist, while Sweden's butterflyer and backstroker had won their respective events and their freestyle swimmer would come second in the 100 m. On paper, Australia's team paled in comparison. Peter Evans
Peter Evans (swimmer)
Peter Maxwell Evans is a former Australian breaststroke swimmer of the 1980s, who won four Olympic medals, most notably a gold in the 4 × 100 m medley relay at the 1980 Moscow Olympics as part of the Quietly Confident Quartet...
was the only individual medallist over a 100 m race, claiming bronze in the breaststroke. Mark Kerry
Mark Kerry
Marcus "Mark" Anthony Kerry is a former Australian backstroke and freestyle swimmer of the 1970s and 1980s, who won three Olympic medals, including a gold in the 4 × 100 m medley relay at the 1980 Moscow Olympics as the backstroker for the Quietly Confident Quartet...
had been eliminated in the backstroke semifinals, while Tonelli was swimming as a makeshift butterflyer, despite having performed better than Kerry in the 100 m backstroke. Adding to the pressure was the fact that Australia won no gold medals at the 1976 Olympics in any sport, and were yet to win in Moscow, so the public were still awaiting their first victory since Munich in 1972
1972 Summer Olympics
The 1972 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from August 26 to September 11, 1972....
. Coming into the Olympics, Australia were ranked seventh out of the thirteen competing countries. Australia's prospects improved after the morning heats in which Sweden was disqualified. Tonelli, the eldest swimmer in the quartet at the age of 23, convened the team as its de facto leader. He asked his team-mates to commit to swimming their legs in a certain time; Kerry vowed to swim the backstroke in 57 s, Evans the breaststroke in 63 s flat, Tonelli the butterfly in 54 s and Brooks promised to anchor the team in 49.8 s, even though he had never gone faster than 51 s. Tonelli named the foursome as the Quietly Confident Quartet, and they exhibited a quiet confidence as they lined up for the race.
Kerry led off in a faster time than he had clocked in the individual event, but it was still two seconds slower than his personal best time of 57.87 s. This left Australia in fourth place at the end of the first leg. Evans then swam a personal best of 63.01 s, leaving the team almost level with the host nation at the halfway mark. Tonelli then swam his leg in 54.94 s, almost two seconds faster than his previous best. He did so with an uneven arm technique due to the disparity in the strength of his arms. He began to lose ground in the last 50 m and was a bodylength behind until a late surge brought him to within a metre of the lead by the end of his leg. Brooks then made a powerful, well-timed dive and surfaced almost even with his Soviet counterpart. At the halfway mark, he had drawn level and made a superior turn to take the lead. The Soviet freestyler Kopliakov pulled level at the 25 m mark before Brooks again sprinted away to seal an Australian victory by 0.22 s. He did not breathe in the last ten metres, and claimed to be laughing for the final five metres, confident that his opponent could not pass him. The Australian freestyler had finished his leg in 49.86 s as he had vowed to his team mates. The time of 3 m 45.70 s sealed Australia's first ever win in a medley relay at the Olympics, for men or women. Brooks dedicated the team's win to his mother, who had died from cancer the previous Christmas. Upon returning to Australia, he was greeted as a hero, but he considered retiring due to waning desire for success after his triumph in Moscow. In 2000, Brooks and the other members of the quartet were each awarded the Australian Sports Medal
Australian Sports Medal
The Australian Sports Medal was an award given during 2000 to recognise achievements in Australian sport.Recipients of the award included competitors, coaches, sports scientists, office holders, and people who maintained sporting facilities and services. Over 18,000 Medals were...
for their victory in Moscow.
In the individual event, which occurred after the relay, Brooks had come equal first in his heat with eventual bronze medallist Per Johansson
Per Johansson (swimmer)
Per Lennart Johansson is a former freestyle swimmer from Sweden. He won two bronze medals in the 100 m freestyle in 1980 and 1984. Johansson was nicknamed Senan.-Long course :-References:*...
from Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
in a time of 52.11 s. This made him the seventh fastest qualifier for the semi-finals, but he suffered a severe asthma attack and had to be hospitalised. He swam the semi-final regardless, despite having a heart-rate before the start of race of 120, compared to his usual 72. He finished seventh in a time of 52.70 s, which saw him place 14th, missing the final by 0.83 s.
US college career
Brooks suffered from a lack of motivation after the Olympics. He was recruited to the Australian Institute of SportAustralian Institute of Sport
The Australian Institute of Sport is a sports training institution in Australia with world class facilities and support services. The Institute's headquarters is situated in Canberra, the capital city of Australia. The 66.0 hectare site campus is in the northern suburb of Bruce, but some of the...
by swimming coaches Bill Sweetenham
Bill Sweetenham
Bill Sweetenham is a competitive swimming coach. He was the National Performance Director for British Swimming until 2007, having previously been the National Youth Coach for Swimming Australia.Sweetenham has worked directly with more than 40 Olympians....
and Dennis Pursley, but his stay was brief. The inaugural director Don Talbot
Don Talbot
Don Talbot OBE is an Olympic swimming coach from Australia. He has coached national teams for Canada and Australia.-Canada:Since the 1950s Talbot has coached Olympic champions and World Record holders for a thirty year period...
, a former head coach of the Australian swimming team, expelled him for indiscipline. He then won the 1981 Australian title in the 100 m freestyle without training, but his time of 52.61 s was substantially slower than his personal best. Brooks then accepted a scholarship to go to the University of Arkansas
University of Arkansas
The University of Arkansas is a public, co-educational, land-grant, space-grant, research university. It is classified by the Carnegie Foundation as a research university with very high research activity. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and is located in...
to train under Sam Freas. He enjoyed the more liberal culture in the American collegiate system, particularly the relationship between swimmers and their coaches. He enjoyed the less paternalistic treatment that the coaches accorded to their swimmers, saying that "In Australia, after a race they want to lock you in your room. In America, you can share a beer after the meet with the coach." The shortcourse pools
Short course
In Swimming, the term Short Course is used to identify a pool that is 25 metres in length. The term is also often included in meet names when conducted in a short course pool...
used in the United States played into the hands of Brooks, as his strong legs gave him an advantage in pushing away from the turns, which came twice as often in comparison to longcourse (50 m) pools. He had initially planned to stay in the United States for only a year, but decided to extend his stay by a year, having enjoyed the high frequency of racing and the recognition accorded to university athletes in the United States. In both years, he won the 50 m and 100 m freestyle double in the Southwest Conference, and was fourth in the 100 m freestyle at the 1981 National Collegiate Athletic Association
National Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...
(NCAA) Championships. He also came second in the 100 m freestyle at the AACC Championships to Rowdy Gaines
Rowdy Gaines
Ambrose Gaines IV is a former American swimmer, U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame member, Olympic three-time gold medalist, and member of the International Swimming Hall of Fame...
, who went on to win the event at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.
Despite his successes in America, the Australian Swimming Union
Swimming Australia
Swimming Australia is the peak governing body for competitive swimming in Australia. The body currently has approximately 90,000 registered members nationally in 1100 clubs across the country, which includes swimmers, coaches, officials, administrators and volunteers...
did not offer to fund a return home for Brooks for the 1982 Australian Championships, but the University of Arkansas paid his fare as a reward for his performances in collegiate competition. Despite failing to defend his 100 m title, he successfully qualified for the 1982 Commonwealth Games
1982 Commonwealth Games
The 1982 Commonwealth Games were held in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia from 30 September–9 October 1982. The Opening Ceremony was held at the QEII Stadium , in the Brisbane suburb of Nathan. The QEII Stadium was also the venue which was used for the athletics and archery competitions during the...
in Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
. The team then went into a five-week training camp in the seaside Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
suburb of South Coogee. The team resided at a migrant hostel, which at the time was primarily occupied by Vietnamese refugees from the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
. Brooks spoke out about the quality of the accommodation, leading officials to make improvements.
Brief suspension for disciplinary reasons and 1982 Commonwealth Games
Brooks' protests against the accommodation was overshadowed by a much-publicised physical confrontation with a team official. He telephoned his coach in the United States to make return travel arrangements for the conclusion of the Commonwealth Games. Due to the difference in time zones, he made his call after the team curfew, prompting team manager Jeff Hare to attempt to disconnect the line. After Hare threatened to expel him from the team, Brooks lost his temper and pinned the manager against the wall. The swimmer was summoned to a meeting with ASU officials the following day, where he remained unrepentant. He received a one month ban, effective after the conclusion of the Commonwealth Games. Brooks demanded that if the ASU were to suspend him, they should do so immediately for the Commonwealth Games, rather than letting him compete and win medals before punishing him. His complaints about the training conditions had gained the attention of his team-mates, and several senior swimmers threatened to leave if he was banned. In the end, the ASU rescinded the suspension. Brooks has remained strongly critical of the attitude of swimming bureaucracy, claiming that "too many officials expect unquestioning obedience", calling for the formation of a swimmers' committee.Arriving in Brisbane for the Commonwealth Games, Brooks and some of his fellow sprinters shaved their heads, something that received much attention from the Australian public. He won his heat of the 100 m freestyle in a Commonwealth and Commonwealth Games record of 51.09 s. He swam slower in the final, but his time of 51.14 s was enough to secure the gold medal in a close contest. Just 0.43 s separated him and the bronze and silver medallists Greg Fasala
Greg Fasala
Gregory John Fasala was an Australian sprint freestyle swimmer of the 1980s, who won a silver medal in the 4x100m freestyle relay at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics....
and Michael Delany
Michael Delany
Michael Delany was an Australian sprint freestyle swimmer of the 1980s, who won a silver medal in the 4x100m freestyle relay at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.Delany was best known for being a member of the so-called Mean Machine...
, both of Australia.
Brooks then won gold as part of the winning 4 × 100 m freestyle relay, anchoring the team of Fasala, Delany and Graeme Brewer
Graeme Brewer
Graeme Brewer was an Australian freestyle swimmer of the late 1970s and early 1980s, who won a bronze medal in the 200 m freestyle at the 1980 Moscow Olympics...
to a victory by almost three seconds, putting in a split of 50.56 s. The shaven-headed quartet was dubbed the Mean Machine. He collected another gold in the medley relay, combining with David Orbell, Evans and Jon Sieben
Jon Sieben
Jonathan Scott Sieben is an Australian former butterfly swimmer active in the 1980s, who won gold in the 200 m butterfly at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics....
, this time completing his freestyle anchor leg in 50.44 s. Canada had finished the race far ahead of the Australians, but were disqualified for an early changeover. After the games, Brooks completed the American college season before returning to Australia. He was named as Western Australia's Sportsman of the Year.
Second Olympics
Brooks came into the 1984 Australian Championships as the favourite, but this time he was on the receiving end of a close result. He placed third in the 100 m freestyle behind Mark StockwellMark Stockwell
Marcus William "Mark" Stockwell is a former Australian sprint freestyle swimmer. Stockwell won three medals in freestyle swimming at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics....
and Delany, missing individual selection by 0.05 s. The trio was separated by a total of only 0.15 s. Selected as a relay swimmer only, he went to Los Angeles hoping to win the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay, an event that the United States had always won.
During the heats, the Australian team of Brooks, Fasala, Delany and Stockwell showed their intention to deny the Americans the gold for the first time at Olympic level. Drawn alongside the Americans in the third and final heat, the Australians set a new Olympic record of 3 m 19.94 s. Brooks led off in the heat, setting a time of 50.36 s, before Stockwell made up a deficit of 0.41 s during the anchor leg to beat the hosts by 0.20 s. Australia and the United States had stamped their authority on the event, qualifying almost four seconds faster than third-placed Sweden. However, the Americans had more speed in reserve, having rested 200 m freestyle silver medalist Mike Heath
Michael Heath (swimmer)
Michael Steward "Mike" Heath is a former American college and international swimmer who is a two-time Olympic gold medalist.- College career :...
and 100 m freestyle gold medallist Rowdy Gaines, whereas Australia used its full-strength team.
In the final, Australian coach Terry Buck
Terry Buck
Terrence William "Terry" Buck was an Australian swimmer and coach. He represented Australia at the 1964 Summer Olympics in the 400m individual medley and placed eighth. He was the first Australian swimmer to first participate at the Olympics as both an athlete and a coach. He was head coach in the...
switched the swimming order, putting Fasala as the leadoff leg, while the Americans brought in Heath and Gaines. Fasala's time of 51.00 s put the Australians second at the first change, behind the Americans, for whom Chris Cavanaugh
Chris Cavanaugh (swimmer)
Christopher Carl "Chris" Cavanaugh is an American swimmer and Olympic champion. He was a part of the USA gold medal winning 4×100m freestyle relay at the 1984 Summer Olympics, and was also a member of the U.S...
had built a 0.17 s lead. After the first leg, the race was still close—0.90 s separated all the teams. Brooks completed his leg in 49.36 s, the fourth fastest in the race, 0.24 s faster than his American counterpart Heath, giving the Australians a slender 0.07 s lead at the halfway point. Australia and the United States had broken away from the field, which was now the best part of two seconds in arrears. However, the Australian lead was short-lived. Matt Biondi
Matt Biondi
Matthew Nicholas Biondi is a three-time U.S. Olympic swimmer in the 1984, 1988, and 1992 Summer Olympics, winning a total of 11 medals...
took 0.59 s from Delany and Gaines took another 0.13 s from Stockwell, as the United States won in a world record time of 3 m 19.03 s. Australia were 0.65 s behind with Sweden a further 2.99 s in arrears. Brooks remained adamant that either he or Stockwell should have led off, stating that "the gold was there for the taking".
Brooks collected a bronze in the medley relay after swimming the freestyle leg in the heats before being replaced by first-choice Stockwell in the final. Competing in the third and final heat, Australia and the United States were equal at the last change before Brooks posted the fastest freestyle leg in the heats, pulling out a 0.40 s margin over Tom Jager
Tom Jager
Thomas Michael "Tom" Jager is a USA Olympic and former World Record holding freestyle swimmer. He swam on the 1984-92 USA Olympic teams—where he earned seven medals, including five golds—and held the World Record in the 50m free at 3 different times, and at one point for over 10 years . He is an...
. Australia again qualified fastest, but the Americans again had more in reserve, having rested all of their first-choice quartet in the heats. Stockwell combined with Kerry, Evans and Glenn Buchanan
Glenn Buchanan
Glenn Buchanan was an Australian butterfly swimmer of the 1980s who won two bronze medals in the 100 m butterfly and the 4 × 100 m medley relay, at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics....
to finish behind the United States and Canada in the final, missing silver by just 0.02 s. Australia improved on their qualifying time by only 0.68 s, while the Americans sped up by 5.03 s.
In 1985, Brooks dead-heated with Stockwell in the 100 m freestyle at the Australian Championships
1985 Australian Swimming Championships
The 1985 Australian Swimming Championships were held at the Melbourne State Swimming Centre from Thursday 21 February to Sunday 24 February. They were organised by Amateur Swimming Union of Australia.-Men's events:Legend: -Women's events:...
, clocking a time of 51.12 s. He then combined with Tom Stachewicz, Paul Lee and Barry Armstrong, as Western Australia won the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay for the first time. Brooks maintained his form and despite not defending his Australian 100 m title, was selected for the 1986 Commonwealth Games
1986 Commonwealth Games
The 1986 Commonwealth Games were held in Edinburgh, Scotland for the second time. The Games were held from 24 July-2 August 1986.-Organisation and Controversy:...
in Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
, where he came second to Fasala in the 100 m freestyle in a time of 51.01 s. He claimed gold in the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay along with Fasala, Stockwell and Matthew Renshaw, anchoring the quartet in setting a Commonwealth Games record. On the return flight, he consumed 46 cans of beer and was banned for six months after he talked about the incident during a television interview. In his memoirs, Talbot, a non-drinker, cited Brooks and his Mean Machine teammates as being one of the biggest proponents of a hard-drinking culture that had permeated the Australian swimming scene at the time. In particular, he singled out Brooks as being a focal point of disruptive activity during his time at the Australian Institute of Sport. Talbot sees alcohol as the main reason behind the collapse of Australia's standing in the swimming world in the 1970s and the subsequent prolonged period of international uncompetitiveness in the 1980s.
After swimming
Brooks retired thereafter, moving to Nambour, QueenslandQueensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
and starting a rock band called The Union. He played the electric guitar, and also wrote his own music and songs. He also represented Western Australia in water polo
Water polo
Water polo is a team water sport. The playing team consists of six field players and one goalkeeper. The winner of the game is the team that scores more goals. Game play involves swimming, treading water , players passing the ball while being defended by opponents, and scoring by throwing into a...
and indoor cricket
Indoor cricket
Indoor cricket is a variant of and shares many basic concepts with cricket. The game is most often played between two teams each consisting of eight players, in matches featuring two innings of sixteen 7-ball overs each...
and played Australian rules football
Australian rules football
Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...
at district level.
Having graduated from the University of Arkansas with a degree in journalism in 1985, Brooks entered the media. Before his graduation, he had been a cadet with the Seven Network
Seven Network
The Seven Network is an Australian television network owned by Seven West Media Limited. It dates back to 4 November 1956, when the first stations on the VHF7 frequency were established in Melbourne and Sydney.It is currently the second largest network in the country in terms of population reach...
in Perth for five years, reading the sports segment on the weekday evening news. He was a television commentator at the 1988, 1992 and 1996 Summer Olympics. Aside from covering the swimming and water polo, he also commentated on volleyball and in 1998, he called various downhill skiing events at the Nagano Winter Olympics
1998 Winter Olympics
The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially the XVIII Olympic Winter Games, was a winter multi-sport event celebrated from 7 to 22 February 1998 in Nagano, Japan. Seventy-two nations and 2,176 participans contested in seven sports and 72 events at 15 venues. The games saw the introduction of Women's ice...
. Domestically, Brooks called Australian Football League
Australian Football League
The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...
matches and read the sports segment on the weekday evening news for the Seven Network. For three years, he hosted Brooksy's Footy Show, a Western Australian travel/holiday show called Wild West, and in the lead-up to the Sydney Olympics, co-hosted The Games with Tracey Holmes
Tracey Holmes
Tracey Holmes is an Australian television and radio presenter, specialising largely in sport. She began working as a journalist at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in 1989, and was Australia's first female host of a national sports programme. Grandstand. From 1996 to 1998, she worked as a...
.
However, Brooks' career began to unravel in the late-1990s. He became addicted to alcohol, leading to a series of on-screen incidents. He once read the sports news segment while inebriated, and was then involved in a drunken argument with the Nine Network
Nine Network
The Nine Network , is an Australian television network with headquarters based in Willoughby, a suburb located on the North Shore of Sydney. For 50 years since television's inception in Australia, between 1956 and 2006, it was the most watched television network in Australia...
's Australian rules football pundit Sam Newman
Sam Newman
John Noel William "Sam" Newman is a retired Australian rules football player and current television personality. He is a featured presenter on the AFL version of The Footy Show.-VFL career:...
. In early 1999, Seven suspended Brooks from on-screen duties for six weeks after he made comments that they deemed to be "tasteless and offensive". In an interview with a magazine that had not been authorised by Seven, Brooks was asked what event he was looking forward to most at the 2000 Summer Olympics
2000 Summer Olympics
The Sydney 2000 Summer Olympic Games or the Millennium Games/Games of the New Millennium, officially known as the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated between 15 September and 1 October 2000 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...
in Sydney, and replied "The after-Olympics piss-up". He was eventually sacked, denying him the opportunity to commentate on the swimming events and costing him an annual salary of AUD700,000.
In late 2000, Brooks was declared bankrupt by the Federal Court in Perth after failing to repay a AUD14,941.64 debt to BankWest. In May 2001, the police raided Brooks' Perth home and found a metre-high cannabis
Cannabis
Cannabis is a genus of flowering plants that includes three putative species, Cannabis sativa, Cannabis indica, and Cannabis ruderalis. These three taxa are indigenous to Central Asia, and South Asia. Cannabis has long been used for fibre , for seed and seed oils, for medicinal purposes, and as a...
plant. Brooks claimed that the plant belonged to a friend, and then announced that he would be leaving the state. Having moved to South Australia
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
in 2003, Brooks started Local, which he billed as the state's leading lifestyle magazine. The venture was run solely by him and his wife, and was dominated by advertising. Journalist Peter FitzSimons
Peter FitzSimons
Peter John FitzSimons AM is an Australian journalist and author, based in Sydney. He is a former radio presenter and national representative rugby union player.-Early life:...
criticised the lack of grammar checking and copyediting, citing a quote from Kieren Perkins
Kieren Perkins
Kieren John Perkins OAM , is a former Australian professional swimmer. One of the world's best-ever long-distance swimmers, he won two Olympic gold medals in 1992 and 1996 in the 1500-metre freestyle, and a silver medal in 2000....
, which was rendered thus in the publication: "I was over the moon. Winning is something you strive to do but when I consider all the factors being married two children twenty seven years of age competing in my third Games and I broke fifteen minutes twice in two days it really was quite outstanding and whichever way you cut it Grant Hackett was just the next generation of swimmer [sic]." Brooks stood 200 cm and weighed 95 kg during his career, but in the early part of the 21st century fought a battle with obesity, after ballooning to 150 kg. As of 2007, he had lost substantial weight and fought off his alcohol problems.
Brooks later became a partner in Nitro Energy Drink Company, which was involved in motorsport sponsorship. However, the firm suffered from financial trouble and he had a falling out with his business partner. In 2009, Brooks was removed from the board and the company was put into administration, and both he and his former partner have started legal proceedings.
Brooks' first marriage was to Lynette Quinlivan in January 1985. Their son Luke
Luke Quinlivan
Luke Quinlivan is an Australian water polo player who plays as a goalkeeper. He was part of the Australian water polo team that won the gold medal at the World University Games in Serbia in 2009 and won a FINA Water Polo World League bronze medal in 2007 in Germany and in 2008 in Italy.His parents...
is a member of the Australian water polo team
Australia men's national water polo team
The Australian national water polo team represents Australia in men's international water polo competitions and is controlled by Australian Water Polo Inc. The national men's team has the nickname of "The Sharks". It is currently organised into the Asia/Oceania regional group...
, playing as a goalkeeper. He has two other children from other relationships. In 2000, he married his third wife Linda.