Ken Wood (coach)
Ken Wood(8 October 1929 – 16 June 2018)[1][2]was an Australianswimmerand swimming coach and a three-timeOlympic medalwinner. He was the head coach at the Redcliffe Leagues Swimming Club atRedcliffe, Queensland,on the northern edge ofBrisbane.
Biography
[edit]Before moving into swimming coaching, he was a used car salesman and a Sydney cab driver.[3]Wood's sporting career included playing for Footscray in the VFL, first grade cricketer for North Sydney and Cairns and was also a patrol captain and champion surf boat rower and lifesaver with Warriewood SLSC on Sydney's Northern Beaches.[3]
Wood's replacedLaurie Lawrencein Townsville in the early 1970s and notable swimmers coached includedLesleigh HarveyandMichelle Pearson.His first major coaching appointment was on the1982 Commonwealth Gamesswim team.[4]Wood coached at theAustralian Institute of Sport(AIS) from 1983 to 1985.[5]He left the AIS to coach at theDe Las Salle CollegeatScarborough, Brisbane.In 2001, he moved to the Redcliffe Memorial Pool.
During his coaching career, his swimmers won 85 National Championships and 152 Age Group National Championships, won a total of 61 international gold medals, broke 15 World Records, and 110 Australian Records.[2]
Wood served on seven Olympic campaigns: 1988 in Seoul, 1992 in Barcelona, 1996 in Atlanta, 2000 in Sydney and 2004 in Athens, 2008 in Beijing and finally 2012 in London. He also coached swimmers on Commonwealth Games teams: 1974 in Christchurch, 1982 in Brisbane, 1986 in Edinburgh, 1990 in Auckland, 1994 in Victoria, 1998 in Kuala Lumpur, 2002 in Manchester and 2006 in Melbourne.[3]
Wood trained Chinese swimming championsLiu Zige,Ye Shiwenand other Chinese National Team and Provincial team swimmers at his high performance centre.[6]Liu won gold at the2008 Beijing Olympicsas well as 3 world medals in the 200m butterfly. Ye won the 200m and 400m medley at the2012 London Olympics.
After Australia failed to win any individual gold medals in swimming at the2012 London Olympics,Wood criticised the current swimmers, saying that they were "fat" compared to the Chinese swimmers, and criticised their "embarrassing" fixation on social media and treating the games like a "social gathering".[7][8]
After the2008 Summer Olympics,one of his students,Jessicah Schipper,left him after he sold training programs to Chinese swimmerLiu Zige,who later defeated Schipper in the 200m Butterfly and broke Schipper's world record at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.[9]
Death
[edit]Wood retired from coaching at the age of 87 in March 2018 and died on 16 June 2018 at the age of 88.[3]
Notable students
[edit]- Leisel Jones– coached from childhood through both the2000 Summer OlympicsinSydneyand the2004 Summer OlympicsinAthens
- Geoff Huegill– coached from age 12 through both the2000 Summer OlympicsinSydneyand the2004 Summer OlympicsinAthens
- Jessicah Schipper– coached from childhood through both the2004 Summer OlympicsinAthensand the2008 Summer OlympicsinBeijing
- Melissa Gorman– coached from early teens through both the2008 Summer OlympicsinBeijingand2012 Summer OlympicsinLondon
- Kylie Palmer
- Kate Brookes-Peterson
- Liu Zige
- Ye Shiwen
References
[edit]- ^2000 Australian Olympic Team Handbook and Media Guide.Sydney: New Ltd. 2000.
- ^ab"Legendary Australian Coach Ken Wood Passes Away".Swimming World website.Retrieved16 June2018.
- ^abcd"Master swim coach and comic Ken Wood dies in Brisbane, aged 88".Swimming Australia website.Retrieved18 June2018.
- ^"ASCTA Coach Honour Roll by chronological order of first accreditation. Recipients receive an asctaRING".ASCTA website.Retrieved16 June2018.
- ^"Swimming".Austrakian Institute of Sport Alumni.Archived fromthe originalon 13 March 2019.Retrieved16 June2018.
- ^"Beijing's Aussie gold mine".news.au.
- ^Tucker, Jim."Australian swimming Boss Leigh Nugent blames 'easy life' blamed for medal dive".Fox Sports.Retrieved3 April2018.
- ^"Australia getting 'soft' says coach Ken Wood – Swimmer's Daily".swimmersdaily.10 August 2012.
- ^"Betrayed Schipper splits with coach".abc.net.au.2 September 2008.