Turning around Australia's swimming woes will be as big a challenge as breaking the 132-year stranglehold on the America's Cup three decades ago, according to John Bertrand.
But the sailing legend, who on Friday was named Swimming Australia's new president, says he is ready to dive in head-first.
"We're talking about green and gold here. We're talking about (an opportunity) of national importance and I find that exciting," said Bertrand, who skippered Australia II to victory in 1983.
"In our America's Cup effort, we were tackling an Everest of sport that no other country had ever achieved - and that was with the United States of America.
"The parallels are similar and I find that intriguing."
Bertrand replaces Barclay Nettlefold, who resigned as SA president in June amid claims of inappropriate behaviour.
His departure followed a string of controversies for SA, which is trying to rebuild after Australia's disappointing London Olympic performance tainted by the Stilnox saga.
Bertrand labelled communication a "major, major issue" within the organisation and said a lot of work was needed to fix the culture across all ranks.
"How do we set this up that we become so good that even with the worst luck that we'll still be successful?
"We have passion in this country, we've got a huge amount of talent resource and we've got so much potential.
"In my role as the new president, if I can help in terms of allowing Australia to get back on the world stage ... it'll be my great pleasure to be involved."
While Bertrand does not have direct experience in the sport, the 66-year-old does hold a few of the secrets that helped Australia's sailing team emerge from last year's London Olympics as the nation's best-performing sport with two gold medals and a silver.
Bertrand - himself a two-time Olympian - served as the team's chairman of selectors during the London and Beijing Games, and remains part of their high performance group.
He said he was "comfortable" that his knowledge of leading high-performance teams could be applied to swimming - a notion supported by Australian Olympic Committee president John Coates.
"He has impeccable connections in Australian sport and business communities and we are very supportive of his appointment," Coates said in a statement.
Australian Sports Commission chair John Wylie also backed Bertrand's ability to pursue much-needed reforms within SA.
Bertrand will fill the position for the remainder of the term, which expires in October 2014.
