“No Medals for Us in 2020,” Swimming New Zealand Bosses Say

Photo Courtesy: Swimming New Zealand / BW Media

By Dave Crampton, Swimming World Contributor.

Two years out from the Tokyo Olympics, Swimming New Zealand has openly and publicly written off any chances of a medal, with just one athlete currently tracking towards top eight in 2020.

“We’ve got to be realistic. We are not showing any evidence that we are going to win medals in 2020,” the federations’s recently appointed targeted athlete and coach development manager Gary Francis told Newshub, a New Zealand nationwide television station.

While freestyler Lauren Boyle has set a short course world record in recent years, New Zealand hasn’t had an Olympic medal since Atlanta 22 years ago, when Danyon Loader did it twice.

As a result of the drought, Swimming New Zealand’s funding has halved over the past eight years or so, with a third of its high performance funding removed by High Performance Sport New Zealand after unrealistic targets were set prior to the Rio Olympics and no New Zealanders made finals.

The federation’s head coach, American Jerry Olszewski, resigned last September, after just a year in the job, citing personal reasons. But swimming insiders privately criticised his performance and appointment – and the federation’s chief executive also acknowledge risks in his appointment.

“It’s always a risk when a sport in New Zealand brings in an international coach that at some point they”ll want to head back,” Steve Johns said. Results at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games were the equal worst in the federation’s history, after most athletes were selected through relay qualification. The sole shining light was Lewis Clareburt’s bronze medal in the 400m IM – and he was selected after falling just short of the qualifying standard set by New Zealand sports authorities.

Clareburt is the one tracking towards top eight in 2020.

The federation is not hiring a replacement head coach from within its own ranks either, revamping its strategy to permit top swimmers to train with their home coaches, instead of in a centralised high performance environment which wasn’t really delivering high performance.

That’s exactly what Clareburt, and young sprinter Michael Pickett, 15, who is approaching a sub 50 second 100m freestyle time, have been doing.

Clareburt trains in his home town in Wellington, New Zealand’s capital city, with Gary Hollywood, who is on the coaching team to next month’s Pan Pacific championships. Pickett trains with John Gatfield, a New Zealander, at top Australian club St Peter’s Western, a club that would have come third in the medal tally at the Commonwealth Games if they were a sports federation.

Francis says he is hoping that his top athletes are knocking on the door to win medals, but currently they are not even making Olympic finals – some weren’t even making semi-finals.

“We can’t keep sending swimmers and not have them make semi-finals,” he said “We`re no longer carrying passengers – everybody is got to be in the front seat and driving.”

Swimming New Zealand will be naming its Pan Pacific team after the New Zealand Open championships this week. To date just Emma Robinson has qualified in the 800m at opens, with Clareburt, backstroker Corey Main and sprinter Daniel Hunter meeting the qualifying times at the Commonwealth Games and available for selection.

Bradlee Ashby, who also qualified at the Commonwealth Games, is out with injury.

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