Tindale brings global swim officiating experience back to Geelong

GEELONG Swimming Club committee member Peter Tindale had a front-row seat to sporting history last month while helping officiate the Canadian Swim Trials.

Tindale, who has been a qualified technical official for the past 25 years, was poolside when 18-year-old Canadian swimming prodigy Summer McIntosh smashed four-time Australian Olympic champion Ariarne Titmus’s 400m freestyle world record by 1.20 seconds.

The record has stood since Titmus reclaimed the title from McIntosh at the 2023 world championships in Japan, and with “the Terminator” taking a 12-month break from the sport, the 2025 World Aquatics Championships in Singapore later this month may well be the teen star’s for the taking.

McIntosh shattered two more world records over the course of the six-day event – in the 200m and 400m Individual Medley – while Tindale, in his role as an official, matched her pace from the pool deck, keeping watch over her technique.

“If you’re judging the stroke, you’re the one who’s walking up and down the side of the pool, ensuring the swimmers on your side of the pool are actually abiding by the rules for that stroke,” Tindale, a Drysdale resident, explained.

It’s Tindale’s second time officiating the swim trials – his connection to the country forged over the three years he lived between Australia and Canada – and an opportunity he believes has helped him build valuable experience he can share back home.

“The people who are over there are absolutely magnificent to work with and they’re really friendly,” he said.

“If you go internationally, such as Canada, the rules for swimming are the same, but how they do it’s different.

“You’ve got to be flexible enough to see that what we do in Australia is not the only way and to be able to work within the confines of what other countries do.”

These differences are typically centred around the protocols preferred by each region, from where officials stand to where they look during competitions.

“It gives you more experience to know that…maybe we can change things to improve what we do here, and possibly there,” Tindale said.

When he’s not travelling across the globe officiating at swim meets or coaching the masters swimming group at the North Bellarine Aquatic Centre, Tindale is helping train technical officials. He’s hoping to boost the number of qualified personnel in Geelong, and is encouraging locals to give it a go.

“For swimmers who have finished their swimming career or parents [of swimmers], it’s just a great thing to get involved with,” he said. “It opens a lot of doors.”