William Sweetenham
AM (born 23 March 1950) is an elite
swimming
Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...
coach. He has coached swimming teams of Australia, Britain, Hong Kong and the Argentina national swimming team. During his career, Sweetenham was Head National Team Coach at five Olympic Games, coached 27 medalists at the Olympic Games and World Championships, and nine world record holders.
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Career
Australia
Sweetenham began his coaching career in his hometown of Mount Isa
Mount Isa ( ) is a city in the Gulf Country region of Queensland, Australia. It came into existence because of the vast mineral deposits found in the area. Mount Isa Mines (MIM) is one of the most productive single mines in world history, bas ...
. He then replaced Laurie Lawrence
Laurie Joseph Lawrence (born 14 October 1941) is an Australian swimming coach. He was also an Australia national rugby union team member in 1964.
Early life
Lawrence was born in the Queensland city of Townsville, where his father, Alan 'Stumpy' ...
at the Carina Swimming Club in Brisbane, Queensland
Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...
. Whilst at the club he coached three of the greatest distance swimmers - Stephen Holland, Tracey Wickham and Michelle Ford
Michelle Jan Ford (born 15 July 1962) is an Australian former long-distance freestyle swimming, freestyle and butterfly swimming, butterfly swimmer of the 1970s and 1980s, who won a gold medal in the 800-metre freestyle, bronze in the 200-met ...
.[ Sweetenham then became the first Queensland Director of Coaching.][
In 1980, Sweetenham was appointed inaugural Women's Head Swimming Coach at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS). From late 1985 to 1991, he was Head Coach. During his time at the AIS, Sweetenham was involved in coaching Olympic and Commonwealth Games medallists - Michelle Pearson, ]Karen Phillips
Karen Anne Phillips (born 4 May 1966), known after marriage as Karen Anne Higgison, was an Australian butterfly and individual medley swimmer of the 1980s, who won the silver medal in the 200-metre butterfly at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los ...
, Suzanne Landells, Georgina Parkes and Rob Woodhouse
Robert Woodhouse (born 23 June 1966) is an Australian former competition swimmer who specialised in medley swimming. He is now a prominent sports agent and company director. Woodhouse and Brendon Smith are the only Australian men to have won ...
. In 1983, whilst at the AIS, he suffered serious leg injuries as a result of a car accident in West Germany.[ From 1995 to 2001, he was the National Youth Coach for ]Swimming Australia
Swimming Australia is the peak governing body for competitive swimming in Australia. The body has approximately 100,000 registered members nationally in 1100 clubs across the country, which includes swimmers, coaches, officials, administrators ...
and during this period the programme produced a number of future Australian national team members including Ian Thorpe
Ian James Thorpe, (born 13 October 1982) is an Australian retired swimmer who specialised in freestyle, but also competed in backstroke and the individual medley. He has won five Olympic gold medals, the most won by any Australian along wit ...
and Grant Hackett
Grant George Hackett OAM (born 9 May 1980) is an Australian swimmer, most famous for winning the men's 1500 metres freestyle race at both the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney and the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. This achievement has led him t ...
. He managed the Australian swim team for four Olympic Games
The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...
and five Commonwealth Games
The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...
.
Hong Kong
In 1991, he was Head Swimming Coach at the Hong Kong Sports Institute and Hong Kong's Head Olympic Swim Coach. He returned to Australia in 1995 to become Swimming Australia's National Youth Coach.[
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Great Britain National Performance Director
Sweetenham's tenure with Great Britain was marked by medal success at World Championship
A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...
level, Olympic disappointment, and recurring controversy on his man-management methods.2001
The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...
, 2003
File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...
and 2005
File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...
Swimming World Championships as it had at all previous World Championships back to 1973.[
On 3 September 2007, British Swimming announced that Bill Sweetenham had stood down as NPD citing personal reasons. Sweetenham had previously indicated that he would not renew his contract, which was due for renewal following the ]2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...
in Beijing.
Argentina
The Argentina Federation of Water Sports reported in 2013 about the arrival of Bill Sweetenham, for beginning work in conjunction with the national team and in order to improve the areas of training, technical training bodies, and sports organizations in the coming years. This initiative was supported by the ENARD and Sports Secretary's Office, will have to Sweetenham until day 28 in Argentina.
Publishing
Sweetenham has been a prolific contributor to swimming coaching.[ In 1998, he produced a nine-volume video collection titled ''Swimming in the 21st Century'' which covered all the swimming strokes. In 2003, with John Atkinson he wrote ''Championship Swim Training''.
]
Recognition
*1979 - Australian Swim Coach of the Year[
*1981 - Australian Coach of the Year][
*1981 - Churchill Fellow to study swimming training in the United States.][
*1987 -"Master Coach" award in 1987 ][
*1988 - Awarded "Most outstanding contribution to Australian Swimming" ][
*1987 - Australian Swim Coach of the Year ][
*1989 - ]Member of the Order of Australia
The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...
(OAM) [
*2000 - ]Australian Sports Medal
The Australian Sports Medal is an award given to recognise achievements in Australian sport to commemorate Australian participation in major sporting events. Original recipients of the award included competitors, coaches, sports scientists, offi ...
*2018 - inducted into International Swimming Hall of Fame
The International Swimming Hall of Fame and Museum (ISHOF) is a history museum and hall of fame, located at One Hall of Fame Drive, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States, operated by private interests and serving as the central point for the stu ...
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References
External links
Bill Swttenham's Australian Coaching Achievements 1978-1991
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sweetenham, Bill
1950 births
Australian swimming coaches
Australian Olympic coaches
People from Mount Isa
Australian Institute of Sport coaches
Living people