Canada sacked their swim coach, Dave Johnson, after they failed to win an Olympic medal in the pool for the first time in 50 years, the country’s swimming federation announced.
The federation president, Rob Colburn, said the axing of Johnson, who has held the post for 11 years, is the first part of the federation’s plan to put in place a winning programme.
He added on public television station CBC the difficult decision was taken based on results in Athens and recent years.
In Athens, the best performance by Canadian swimmers was fifth spot in the men’s 4x200m freestyle relay. Four years earlier in Sydney, Canadian swimmers only won one medal.
Johnson’s successor will be named in December following a complete relook into the way the federation’s swim programme is run, which started in April.
It was not clear who would coach the team at next month’s short-course world championships in Indianapolis, though the new coach will be installed by the next long-course championships in Montreal in July next year. — Sapa-AFP