Jacco Verhaeren finds a new swimming job three months after leaving Australia. The 51-year-old Dutch coach goes to work for the German Federation.
Fairhairn, who has had great success with Olympic champion Peter van den Hugenband, Inge de Bruyne and Ranome Kromovedjogo, is mainly tasked with developing young talent in Germany.
De Brabander returned to the Netherlands in September after finishing his job as head coach with the Australian Federation after seven years. He did not want to renew his contract for family reasons after postponing the Tokyo Olympics by a year.
Verhaeren brought swimming “Down Under” back to the standard, after the expected successes that were not achieved during the 2012 Games in London. It resulted in three golds at the Rio 2016 Games and no fewer than nineteen medals at the 2019 World Cup in South Korea.
The DFB reported that Verhahren will not interfere with preparations for the Games in Tokyo next summer, but is mainly drawn to the long-term success of German swimming. He should use his experience to develop a new performance concept for distances from 50 to 200 meters.
“In Australia, as an outsider, I have been able to start from scratch and thus start sustainable development. I hope now to do the same in Germany,” Verhahren said on Monday on the DFB website. “As a Dutch, I know very well the great potential of German swimming.”
