Mastered B. Goggles 1949-2006
Early attempts were full of enthusiasm, but low on ability and technical know how. The first go consisted of Mastered just painting fishes on the inside of his father’s old welding mask, which was cumbersome and not the slightest bit realistic. What it lacked visually it lacked even more in feeling, as Mastered sat there bone dry. Eventually the specs were refined with a coloured tint and a vibratory effect in the headband that gave you the impression of being submerged. For the movement he found an old table top which he attached skateboard wheels to so he could propel himself along.
It fell to Mastered’s uncle to notice his potential. Walking back from the shops one day he noticed the young fella zooming along the riverbed at breakneck speed. Thus it came to be that he flew Mastered to Brisbane in his small airplane to undertake swimming trials with the national coach.
The rest as they say is history. Mastered B. Goggles leaves behind a family, 3 Olympic gold medals and a generation of much happier natives of Alice Springs.