JOHN KONRADS

At the Olympics in Melbourne two years ago, 14-year-old John Konrads of New South Wales served as training pacemaker for Australia's great distance swimmer, Lorraine Crapp. A year later Konrads was leading the whole Australian pack, setting a pace that left the world in his wake. Last winter in three weeks he broke every world freestyle record from 200 meters up, and in July he won three gold medals at the British Empire Games. With veterans of the 1956 Olympics, like his countryman Murray Rose and Tsuyoshi Yamanaka of Japan, still on the scene, victory for Konrads at the next Games in Rome is far from certain. This much is sure: both by his record and his continuing dedication in practice, at the age of 15, in a mid-Olympic year, this youthful Australian proved to be the finest swimmer the world has ever known.

PHOTO

ILLUSTRATION