1996 Paralympic gold medalist Brendan Burkett has been appointed head coach of Australian Paralympic swimming, Swimming Australia announced Wednesday.
Burkett was previously the State Coach of Queensland and Scholarship Swimming Coach at the Australian Institute of Sport and the director of high performance sport at the University of the Sunshine Coast, and a professor of sport science. He’ll continue to hold his Sunshine Coast position while working for Swimming Australia.
“I’ve been very lucky to be part of the spirit of the green and gold as an athlete and in various staff team roles in the past 17 years,” said Burkett, who will officially assume his new position on October 1. “During this time the Australian swim team has been guided by some outstanding head coaches who have set a high standard, including Brendan Keogh and the late Jan Cameron, and I am privileged to form part of this now.”
Keogh had been head coach and Paralympic performance manager since 2015.
According to Swimming Australia’s press release, Burkett’s focus in the immediate will be on guiding his support staff through the 2019 Para Swimming World Championships and the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games.
Lakeisha Patterson was in his program for 2 years. He’s a Sport Scientist who also heads up the IPC Swimming classification review team. Personally, I believe his appointment as head coach is highly inappropriate and somewhat contrived.