Tumble Turns (1st edition and revised edition) by Shane Gould

At the time of writing the first edition (published 1999), Shane was preparing for her involvement in the Sydney Olympics in 2000. The revised edition (2003) has an additional section Part 6 -Reformation, which includes chapters on the Sydney Olympics, Learning to Swim Again and New Life New Love.

Shane Gould was somewhat a childhood hero to me (though I hate the word ‘hero’ when applied to sportspeople! To me heros rescue people from burning buildings....) . When Shane was winning her Olympic medals in Munich, I was on my way to a Girl Guide camp in Perth - crossing the continent on the Indian-Pacific Railway. I remember the excitement in the train as they turned the radio on in the passenger lounges. 

Olympic champion, Munich 1972

I had followed her brief swimming career as a teenager (she is one year older than me) and in recent years took a keen interest in her contribution to cultural history through a shared passion for the role public swimming pools play in Australian culture. 

Then Shane appeared on, and won, the third season of TV game show Australian Survivor. Anyone who has doubts about “how she did it” needs to read this book! Talk about a story of resilience and the acquisition of the mental and physical skills needed to weave your way through a communal experience and emerge a champion once again! 

Australian Survivor winner, 2018 

The chapter in the revised edition of her book, about "re-learning" how to swim, in response to changing body physiology as one ages, and the need to be able to swim without injury when not a teenager in intensive training makes interesting reading. Shane says: "To me my new style feels easier and more graceful, and the less I do the more energetic my movements are. 'Letting go' of muscle strain and tension is a mantra I repeat. It feels light lively, harmonic and very powerful". 

That was evident when watching Shane tear up the water in any swimming challenge in Survivor. It was beautiful to watch. 

The Million Dollar Mermaid by Esther Williams with Digby Diehl

 

I saw a few Esther Williams films on TV as a kid and remember the excerpts in the That's Entertainment films. Williams was a national champion swimmer who was denied the opportunity to compete at the Olympics when it was called off due to World War Two. 

She grew up in a working class area of Los Angeles, was raped in her home for two years as a young teen; had an unsuitable teenage marriage, her second marriage was to an alcoholic gambler who used all her money; husband number three was a narcissistic controller to whom she thetheres herself and all but erased her own identity - he also wouldn't have anything to do with her children. It's a wonder Williams was the strong and assertive professional woman she became. 

In the era of #metoo, William’s story dishes the facts on the casting couch and the sexual harassment of men of her generation (Johnny Weissmuller, Victor Mature, Fernando Lamas, MGM execs), as well as the playing along with it of women. 

Williams has a lot of tell-all tales about her contemporary stars: Victor Mature and Jeff Chandler, with whom she had torrid affairs; Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, complementary about - one is Shirley Maclaine.

There's also all the behind the scenes stuff about how those swimming musicals were made. 

Williams died aged 91 in 2013. Her latter career, as a swimming pool and swimsuit business operator and her role in promoting synchronised swimming as a Olympic sport, as well as her final marriage is dealt with in one chapter. 

This book is a rollicking read. Some doubt has been case by some reviewers and friends of some of the people mentioned about the veracity of it all - especially, was Jeff Chandler a cross-dresser? Whatever the truth, she hardly comes out terribly well. I was also flabbergasted about her clams to have swanned around with the Spanish dictator Franco's crowd. This included a story of a drunken Duke of Windsor and his snarky wife. 

On of the best aspects is the goings-on at MGM.