Doug Frost former coach to Australian swim sensation Ian Thorpe has been named head coach
Last updated 10/19/2008 1:40:32 PM
Doug Frost former coach to Australian swim sensation Ian Thorpe has been named head coach
Doug Frost, former coach to Australian swim sensation Ian Thorpe, has been named as the head coach of the new Intensive Training Centre (ITC) in Stirling in a major coup for British Swimming.
The 65 year old Australian coached Thorpe from 1997 to his triple gold medal performance at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games and has been at the forefront of Australian swimming success for the past two decades.
The new appointment will see Frost head up one of the new nationwide network of five ITC's designed to provide a world-class daily training environment for swimmer development and to continue the sport's momentum as it prepares for London 2012.
The news follows the announcement last month that Dave McNulty, who guided Jo Jackson to an Olympic bronze medal, would be in charge of ITC at the University of Bath. Sean Kelly, the coach of Olympic medallists Kerie-Anne Payne and Cassie Patten, has been selected to head up the ITC in Stockport while Ben Titley, one of the country's most experienced trainers, will be at Loughborough University.
Frost, the former senior swimming coach for the Australian Institute of Sport is looking forward to helping British Swimming build on its success from Beijing and said: "I am really excited about taking up my role at the Stirling ITC and working alongside Scottish Swimming,
"I believe it will be a great experience and I am looking forward to the challenge of setting up the new centre.
"I think with the introduction of the new ITC's in Great Britain there will be a new added element of high-level competition between the centres that will only help further develop the sport, while introducing high-level training facilities will only help develop swimmers in the UK.
"After working at elite level in swimming for the past 18 years I believe I can help make Great Britain a dominant force in international swimming in 2012."