In the same week that Swimming New Zealand Head Coach Jerry Olszewski announced his resignation, a new High Performance Sport NZ Chief Executive has been hired. Michael Scott, former Performance Director for Swimming Australia and current Chief of Rowing Australia, will replace the exiting Alex Baumann as Sport New Zealand’s next head of High Performance.
A wholly-owned subsidiary of Sport NZ, the High Performance entity brings together investment, strategy and performance support to provide a one-stop-shop that enables athletes and coaches to focus on performance, per the announcement. Scott not only brings his Swimming Australia experience to the role, but he also carries the titles of former Director of Australian Institute of Sport and former CEO of the 2007 FINA World Championships organizing committee on his resume. Scott also held the role of National Performance Director at British Swimming.
“Michael brings truly world-class credentials and we are confident he will continue the evolution and success of our high performance system,” HPSNZ chairperson Sir Paul Collins said.
“He understands what it takes to be the system leader, but also brings the critical perspective of our partners, national sport organisations, as well as the high performance systems of Great Britain and Australia.”
Of his next endeavor, Scott said, “I look forward to working with national sporting bodies, coaches, athletes and the team at HPSNZ to collectively build upon New Zealand’s recent success on the world stage.
“I am committed to working in partnership with sports to build a world-leading and sustainable high performance system in New Zealand,” he said.
He was awful for GB, living in Hotels for two weeks and then returning to Australia for two weeks, for 7 seven years. Cost British swimming millions.
I hope he doesn’t have the same deal and is actually in New Zealand for more than two weeks.
British swimming been much better since he left. Hopefully much better for NZ.