Jacco Verhaeren will remain as Australia's head swimming coach until after the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.
A day after the Australian Olympic Committee predicted the Dolphins would take home seven gold medals from next year's Rio Games, Swimming Australia extended the Dutch coach's contract for another five years.
Verhaeren joined the team in 2013 after a disastrous London Olympics campaign which netted just one gold medal through the women's 4x100 metre freestyle relay team.
Since then, he has returned Australia to No.2 at this year's world championships, where they trailed the US by only one gold medal at the end of the event.
"After working with the team for almost two years now, I am excited with the prospects of the future and how I can continue to support the development of coaches, staff, athletes and the high performance system to stay or become world class, respected both in and out of the pool," Verhaeren said.
Verhaeren joined the Australian team after a successful stint in his homeland, which included the past five Olympics, netting 23 medals, including 11 golds.
It easily accounted for the strongest period in the nation's Olympic swimming history.
Swimming Australia CEO Mark Anderson also noted the cultural changes Verhaeren had brought to the squad as a reason for making the unusual decision to extend his tenure beyond the current Olympic cycle.
"He has a style that brings people along with him on the journey. We believe that there is much more that we wish to achieve and that Jacco is the individual to lead that process in his role as national head coach."
With the contract extension, Verhaeren will be in charge of the Dolphins for the 2017 FINA World Championships in Budapest; the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast and Pan Pacs in Tokyo, the 2019 World Championships in South Korea and the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
Share
