Swimming Australia has gone through a lot of changes in the last year from and the last couple of days have seen two major initiatives that the organization has undertaken to reclaim one of the top spots in the world of swimming.
Yesterday the organization announced the creation of the Podium Centre Program to provide increased support to teams in Australia that have shown consistent results and the potential for repeating those types of performances and today they announced that Petria Thomas will be joining Swimming Australia in the role of National Training Centre and Support Network Manager.
This is a new position that has been created to bring together many pieces of the puzzle that influence the performances of elite athletes on the international stage.
The job is a huge undertaking as Thomas will be responsible for establishing strong relationships and credibility with athletes coaches, high performance staff and sport science and medical professionals. She will also oversee the coordination of a number of facilities and programs at the Australian Institute of sport, including Swimming Australia’s residential program, national team camps, the science/sports medicine and innovation research programs as well as the injury prevention and rehabilitation programs.
If that was not enough Thomas will also be working with several funded training centres throughout the country.
Thomas will provide an incredible amount of experience and insight for the organization, “Petria’s knowledge of the management and organisational side of sport, as well as her firsthand experience as an elite athlete will no doubt be a positive gain for the high performance swimming community,” said Michael Scott the Swimming Australia’s High Performance Director.
Thomas had an incredible career competing in three Olympics collecting medals at the 1996 games in Atlanta (silver 200 butterfly), at the 2000 games in Sydney (silver – 4 x 100 medley, 4 x 200 freestyle relays and bronze in the 200 butterfly) and at the 2004 Olympics in Athens where she collected three gold medals in the 100 butterfly, 4 x 100 freestyle and 4 x 100 medley relays (both relays set new world records) as well as a silver in the 200 butterfly.
Thomas retired after the 2004 Olympics.
Thomas not only brings the experience of accomplishing so much at the highest level of competition, but she was met with many challenges on her road to excellence that not all athletes have to face. She overcame a shoulder injury that she originally he suffered 1998, an injury she struggled with for her entire career and forced her to sit out much of the 2003 season due to shoulder reconstruction surgery. She also struggled with depression at different points in her career.
After her swimming career Thomas went on to work for the Australian Sports Commission in a sport administration role where she implemented several programs that required the the same skills she will need to excel in her new position with Swimming Australia, ““I’m excited by the opportunity to re-join the swimming community and I am looking forward to contributing to the positive change process that is already well underway,” said Thomas.
It’s kinda not nice and yet funny that the most vivid image I have of Petria Thomas was when she jumped into the pool at the end of the 4×200 in 2001 Fukuoka, thus forfeiting the gold.
But I agree, she’ll be very good in her new position, she has proved that she has the strength and determination evidence by her career.
Petria will be amazing in this new role. We need somebody with her determination to succeed in this role. I’m so glad petria is back and involved in Australian swimming. Also, they forgot to mention her silver medal in the 200m fly from Athens 2004.