Doug Campbell, who numbers Mark Foster among his list of former swimmers, has been appointed as Scottish Swimming’s new National Coach.

Campbell brings to the role a wealth of coaching experience, most recently working as Swimming Programme Consultant for British National Age Group and Development Camps during 2008.

Campbell, a British Record Holder and former Olympian (Moscow 1980), can also boast of placing athletes on Team GB for six successive Olympic Games between 1984 and 2004, including Foster, Mike Fibbens, Kathy Read, Martin Harris, Neil Willey and Ed Sinclair.

He was a member of the British Olympic coaching staff in Barcelona (1992) and Atlanta (1996).

"I am very much looking forward to starting in this post,” said Campbell. “My aim is to work with coaches and provide them and their swimmers with the best possible opportunities to help develop their talents on both the National and International stage.

"Swimming in Britain is very high profile at the moment, thanks to the success of the Home Nations at the last Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, and most recently at the Olympic Games in Beijing.

"I am looking to build on the back of this success to ensure that Scotland is represented by the best athletes competing at the Commonwealth Games in India (2010) and Glasgow (2014) and that Scottish swimmers continue to make up a high proportion of Team GB as the countdown to London 2012 starts in earnest."

Scottish Swimming Performance Director, Ally Whike, is also looking forward to Campbell taking up the post.  Whike said,

"Doug is a fantastic appointment for Scottish Swimming; he brings great knowledge and experience as both elite coach and elite swimmer, which will be invaluable in the development of our current crop of top coaches and swimmers going forward and culminating with our own Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in six years time.

"I am looking forward to working closely with Doug and planning for a successful future  keeping Scottish Swimming at the forefront of Scottish and sporting success. "

NEW PERFORMANCE COACH

Meanwhile Ian Wright, who has been head coach at Warrender in Edinburgh for the past 12 years, has been named as the new Stirling Performance Swim Coach.

Wright led Warrender to seven top club awards at the Scottish National Championships and, this year, the club finished as runners-up at the British Youth Championships in Sheffield. 

Highly respected, he was a member of the coaching staff at the 2006 European Championships in Budapest, the 2007 European Short Coach Championships in Debrecen and most recently the Tri-Nations International Meet in Quebec.

The Stirling Performance Squad will work closely with the British Swimming Intensive Training Centre (ITC) framework and Wright is looking forward to working within the new structure in Stirling.

“There has been a huge change in the ethos surrounding performance swimming in the UK in the past twelve months,” he said. “I am delighted to take up the Stirling post at this exciting time.”