New Aussie coach Jacco Verhaeren wants an Australian swimmer in every Olympic final

Read Sydney Morning Herald

The Australian swim team would have a finalist in every Olympic race by the 2020 Games in Tokyo, if not by 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, new head coach Jacco Verhaeren has declared.

Verhaeren, the former coach of Dutch Olympic champions Pieter van den Hoogenband and Inge de Bruijn, was recruited to form a new tandem power structure within Swimming Australia with high performance director Mark Scott, the pair charged with rebuilding the team after a dismal performance in London.

Verhaeren, who has been in the post since January, said he had identified several events where there is a lack of depth, despite having good performers within them,and they must be the focus of talent development if Australia was to achieve his public goal of becoming the best in the world by 2020.

He will get his first look at how the Australian hopefuls stack up at the Commonwealth Games trials that start in Brisbane on Tuesday.

‘‘I think we know the gaps that are there to cover,’’ Verhaeren said.