'India can benefit from Aus model'

‘Keeping things simple’ has been the secret behind Australia’s immense success in the world of swimming, feels Leigh Nugent, their former national head coach.

Nugent is in India as a part of the AUSTSWIM project –– a 12-day training programme spread across three cities (Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru), with the focus on the Australian way of teaching swimming and water safety.

 Nugent was the head coach of the Australian team at the 2004 Athens Olympics. The veteran, under whom Australia won 25 Olympic medals between the 2003-2005 and 2009-2013 periods, believes that Indian swimmers can benefit a lot from the Australian model of training. In a chat with the media, Nugent spoke about his favourite swimmer, his Olympic experience and more. Excerpts

On his visit to Bengaluru: I’ve come here on a joint venture by the Indian and Australian governments. It’s a pilot project in education of swimming coaches. It is about bringing the Australian methodology to India. We also run some practical sessions with some young swimmers here in India.

On the Australian way: Keep it simple. Don’t overcomplicate. Apply yourselves to the task. Complete the process — not much point in  trying to change someone’s method of swimming and only get halfway through it and then give up. 

On how India can benefit from Aussie ways: The standard in Australia is very high. We have a lot of history. Hopefully, India can benefit from that. Maybe some restructuring of the sport here can bring significant gains quickly.

On the best swimmer he has seen: Of all the people I've coached with the national team, the most outstanding swimmer has to be Ian Thorpe. But there have been a lot of talented swimmers I've been involved with -- Leisel Jones was a magnificent swimmer. She doesn't do breaststroke anymore but she changed the standard of women's breaststroke in the world.

On Athens 2004: In the weeks leading up to it, all the media could talk about was the men's 200M freestyle. It was going to be the event of the Olympics because it had big names -- Ian Thorpe, Michael Phelps, Pieter van den Hoogenband, and Grant Hackett -- the best in the world. No one knew who was going to be capable of winning. Couldn't wait for that event. Day three, it all happened. And Thorpe was just way, way too good for everyone. It didn't look like it in the heats or the semifinals, but no one ever shows their true colours there. They always have something up their sleeve. But four years later, Michael Phelps broke the world record, 1:42.43. People look good for a certain period then someone else comes along and take it to another level.

Coaching methods over the years: The methods have changed. But the very basics haven't changed much.  They probably have got lost in looking for a new way, some instant solution.