Mike Troy Named U.S. Paralympic Coach

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., Feb. 27. U.S. Paralympics Thursday named double Olympic gold medalist Mike Troy (Chandler, Ariz.) as Swimming National Team Director today.

U.S. Paralympics, a division of the United States Olympic Committee, conducts programs for elite-level athletes with physical disabilities such as amputations, visual impairments, dwarfism, cerebral palsy and spinal cord injuries in order to prepare these athletes to represent the United States in international competition, including the Paralympic Games.

Troy won the 200-meter butterfly and was a member of the gold medal 800-meter freestyle relay team at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome, Italy. Troy has served in numerous USA Swimming leadership positions, including assistant coach for the U.S. men’s swimming team to the 1975 Pan American Games and as assistant team manager for the U.S. team to the 2001 FINA Swimming World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan.

Troy is a graduate of Indiana University and was decorated for service in Vietnam as a member of the U.S. Navy Underwater Demolition SEAL Team. He is the founder and owner of Mike Troy’s Gold Medal Swim School, which has produced more than 50 members of U.S. national and international swim teams as well as three Olympic gold medalists.

“We’re extremely pleased to have Mike head our U.S. Paralympics Swimming Program,” said Charlie Huebner, Chief Executive Officer of U.S. Paralympics. “The expertise Mike brings will be a great asset for our athletes as they prepare for the 2004 Paralympic Games.”

Troy will lead the development and implementation of training and competition programs for U.S. Paralympics elite- and national-level swimmers as they prepare for the Paralympic Games Sept. 17-28, 2004, in Athens, Greece.

“I’m extremely excited by this opportunity,” Troy said. “It’s an amazing feeling to know that you’re contributing to something of this caliber, and I hope that my experiences and contacts throughout the swimming community can enhance these athletes’ preparation and performances.”

Troy will be joined on the U.S. Paralympics Swimming Program staff by Julie O’Neill, who was named Thursday as Swimming National Program Manager. O’Neill will assist Troy in developing 2003-04 performance strategies and will provide support to team athletes and their coaches from the U.S. Paralympics headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colo., starting April 1.

O’Neill has served on U.S. team staffs to the International Paralympic Committee’s World Swimming Championships in Christchurch, New Zealand in 1998 and in Mar del Plata, Argentina, in 2002. O’Neill also served on the U.S. team staff to the 2000 Paralympic Games in Sydney, Australia.

A graduate of Purdue University and Ohio State University, O’Neill has a decade of USA Swimming program management experience to complement her Paralympic involvement. O’Neill is co-founder of Rocket Aquatics in Baldwinsville, N.Y., and is a member of USA Swimming’s Adapted Swimming Committee.

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