Since John Bertrand came on board, Swimming Australia has gone from strength to strength. Bertrand is better known in Australia as the man who unbolted the Americas Cup at New York Yacht Club. Furthermore, after a disappointing result for Australian swimming at the London Olympics, John has concentrated on reigniting the pride in being an Australian Dolphin. Here, we discuss John’s leadership skills and his rise to fame.
Australian Tradition
There is such a tradition in Australian Swimming and John wants all Australian swimmers to be proud of this tradition and proud to be a dolphin. Therefore, at the Rio Olympics, performances of the Australian Dolphins Swim Team will be closely followed by the country. In fact, I totally agree with John embracing the challenge of converting the 1.2 million children who are taught to swim each year into club participants. My feeling though is if we want to be the best in the world, we, in learn to swim land, must teach children correctly. This is so that when they move on, they have the skills to move to Dolphin representation if they want.
New World Records
At a recent open water event, Chelsea Gubecka (seventh) and Simon Huitenga (eighth) finished inside the top ten in a tough international field. As a result, John welcomed them along with Kareena Lee and George O’Brien to the 2015 Australian Dolphins Swim Team. A number of our Paralympic swimmers began their IPC World Championships preparation with the Berlin Open in Germany. Blake Cochrane, Sean Russo, and Brenden Hall all set new world records for their classifications. In addition, Madeleine Scott set a new Oceania record in the S9 category. Great signs for the year ahead and for Rio.
What’s in Store for Rio
Rio is fast approaching and coaches and swimmers are all doing their best to do Australia proud. Well done coaches and swimmers but a great thank you to President John Bertrand for great leadership.
To read the president’s message shared by Swimming Australia http://us3.campaign-archive2.com/?u=2456b0397878737799dcbb35b&id=9cef6851fe&e=22073149b7
Laurie Lawrence