SINGAPORE — The Singapore Swimming Association (SSA) has ended its search for a new national head coach with the appointment of Australian Stephan Widmer.

The 50-year-old, who will also assume the role of performance director, comes with a proven background, having groomed Olympic champions Libby Trickett, Leisel Jones and Jessicah Schipper. His swimmers have also set 20 world records and won 16 world championship titles.

Born in Switzerland, Widmer will fill the post vacated by Spaniard Sergio Lopez, who stepped down after the Olympics last August. 

Last here in January to conduct a series of coaching clinics, Widmer will start his tenure in July.

At present the state head coach of Queensland with Swimming Australia, Widmer was named Swimming Australia’s Coach of the Year four times (2005, 2006, 2007, 2009).

He was also part of Australia’s coaching team for the 2004, 2008 and 2012 Olympics.

Current National Training Centre (NTC) head coach Gary Tan and SSA Technical Director Sonya Porter will report to him, and Widmer’s focus will include the long-term development of SSA’s swimmers, as well as that of swimming coaches in Singapore.   

Widmer said he was looking forward to his new role.

“I am delighted and honoured to be given this opportunity,” he said in a media statement. 

“I am impressed with the vision and the ambition of Singapore Swimming and I am looking forward to the challenge of grooming more world-class coaches and athletes as Singapore strives to become a top swimming nation,” he said in a press statement.

Tan, who was assistant to Lopez, hailed Widmer’s appointment as “beneficial” to the local coaching landscape.

“He brings a wealth of experience in terms of coaching methodology that would enhance our coaching ecosystem here,” said the two-time Olympian. 

“Along with him and Sonya, we will have a unique opportunity to steer Singapore swimming forward in line with our high-performance objectives. I am definitely looking forward to working with Stephan on building a pipeline of world-class coaches and swimmers.”

SSA president Lee Kok Choy added that Widmer’s appointment is in line with the objectives of SSA’s high-performance plan to take the sport to the next stage, a programme that was unveiled in March as it sought to build on Joseph Schooling’s historic Olympic triumph.

Apart from Schooling, the SSA’s other star swimmer is Quah Zheng Wen who reached the semi-finals of the 100m and 200m butterfly at the Rio Olympics. 

The 20-year-old, who enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley, in January, also won a silver in the 200-yard butterfly at the NCAA Championships in March. 

Both Schooling and Zheng Wen have been granted deferment from national service until after the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

But besides the two swimmers, the SSA has also been developing a squad of young and up-and-coming swimmers, and has publicly declared that it is setting its sights on also getting a relay team to reach the final at the 2020 Olympics. 

Lee has also said previously that to achieve success at the world stage, the SSA will need to increase its athlete base to some 200 swimmers training at the highest level and intensity, a huge jump from the NTC’s current roster of 26.

And Lee believes this is where Widmer’s expertise will be crucial. 

“The plan was a blueprint for long-term development and success for swimming,” said the SSA chief. 

“After long discussions with the team, we believed that Widmer’s calibre and proven track record in grooming world-class swimmers and coaches would allow us to reach that goal.”

Widmer will lead the Singapore team into August’s South-east Asian Games in Kuala Lumpur. Singapore will be aiming to improve on its record 23-gold haul from the 2015 Games.