Bowman, Collins Named Head Coaches for 2007 World Champs

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado, February 8. BOB Bowman (Ann Arbor, Mich. / Michigan) and John Collins (Larchmont, N.Y. / Badger Swim Club) will serve as head coaches for the 2007 World Championships, March 25-April 1 in Melbourne, Australia.

“We have two outstanding coaches who will lead our team to success in an exciting and challenging competition,” said John Walker, USA Swimming National Team High Performance Director. “This meet will be a significant test for our team. Not only are we are facing our biggest rivals in their backyard, but this is also the last opportunity these athletes have to test themselves on a major international stage before the Beijing Olympics.”

The team that will compete at the 2007 World Championships will be selected at the 2006 ConocoPhillips USA Swimming National Championships, Aug. 1-5 in Irvine, Calif., and the results of the 2006 Pan Pacific Championships, Aug. 17-20.

This is Bowman’s first USA National Team head coaching appointment. He previously served on the 2003 and 2005 World Championship as well as the 2004 Olympic staffs as a men’s assistant coach. He has been the men’s head coach at the University of Michigan since 2004 and is the personal coach of six-time Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps.

“It’s always an honor to serve on a National Team staff, and I take the responsibility of being the head coach of a World Championships team very seriously,” Bowman said. “We have an incredibly strong men’s team, and as always, a number of veterans we can count on. I’m looking forward to some exciting new talent surfacing this summer at our Trials when we select the team.”

John Collins is one of USA Swimming’s most experienced National Team coaches. He previously served as head coach in 2001 and assistant coach in 1998 for the World Championship Team. He has been the head coach of Badger Swim Club since 1972 and was the personal coach of Olympic gold medalists Rick Carey, Lea Loveless, Cristina Teuscher and Jenny Thompson.

“I’m very excited to be a part of a team which has the potential to be the best ever U.S. women’s team,” Collins said. “There are so many exciting young performers on the scene, and the fact that this meet will be held in Australia against a women’s team that thinks it’s the No. 1 team is a great challenge. It’s the most important coaching role I’ve had in my lifetime, and I’m looking forward to it.”

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