By Greg Blood

At the end of the Tokyo Olympics it is important to recognise the coaches of Australia’s medallists. Listed are the individual or team coaches where they are known for Australia’s 46 medallists – 17 gold, 7 silver and 22 bronze.

The list highlights the majority of medallists had Australian born coaches or those that have been coaching in Australia since 2000 Olympics (Myriam Fox, Chava Sobrino, and Victor Kovalenko). Special mention goes to Victor Kovalenko who is retiring and has coached Australian 470s crews to six gold and one silver since 2000.

It would be great to see greater recognition of coaches. Previously the Australian Coaching Council would publicly recognise Olympic and Paralympic coaches.

Not listed are the many coaches that played an important part in the development of these athletes.

Athletics

• Nicola McDermott – 1 Silver – Coach Matt Horsnell
• Ash Maloney – 1 Bronze – Coach Eric Brown
• Kelsey-Lee Barber – Coach Mike Barber

Basketball

• Men’s Team (Boomers) – 1 Bronze – Head Coach Brian Goorjian (United States), Coaches Matthew Nielsen, John Rillie,  Adam Caporn

Beach Volleyball

• Women’s Team (Mariafe Artacho del Solar, Taliqua Clancy) – 1 Silver – Coach Kirk Pittman (New Zealand)

Boxing

• Harry Garside – 1 Bronze – Coach Brian Levier

Canoeing

• Jessica Fox – 1 Gold, 1 Bronze – Coach Myriam Fox (France)
• Men’ Sprint K2 1000m (Thomas Green, Jean van der Westhuyzen) – 1 Gold – Coach Jimmy Owens

Cycling

• Logan Martin – 1 Gold – support from national coach Wade Bootes
• Men’s Team Pursuit (Leigh Howard, Kelland O’Brien, Luke Plapp, Alexander Porter, Sam Welsford) – 1 Bronze – Coach Tim Dekker
• Rohan Dennis – 1 Bronze – Coach unkown

Diving

• Melissa Wu – 1 Bronze – Coach Chava Sobrino (Mexico)

Equestrian

• Andrew Hoy – 1 Silver, 1 Bronze – Coach Gareth Hughes
• Kevin McNab – 1 Silver – Coach Sune Hansen (Dressage)
• Shane Rose – 1 Silver – Coach (unknown)

Hockey

• Men’s Team – 1 Silver – Head Coach Colin Batch, Assistants  Anthony Potter & Rob Hammond

Skateboarding

• Keegan Palmer – 1 Gold – Coach  Alex Donnini 

Rowing

• Men’s Coxless Four (Jack Hargreaves, Alexander Hill, Alexander Purnell, Spencer Turrin) – 1 Gold  – Coach Ian Wright (New Zealand)
• Women’s Coxless Four (Annabelle McIntyre, Jessica Morrison, Rosemary Popa, Lucy Stephan) – 1 Gold – Coach John Keogh
• Men’s Quadruple Sculls (Caleb Antill, Jack Cleary, Cameron Girdlestone, Luke Letcher) – 1 Bronze – Coach Mark Prater
• Women’s Quadruple Sculls (Caitlin Cronin, Harriet Hudson, Rowena Meredith, Ria Thompson) – 1 Bronze – Coach Andrew Randall

Sailing

• Men’s 470 (Matthew Belcher, Will Ryan) – 1 Gold – Coach Victor  Kovalenko (Ukriane)
• Matt Wearn – 1 Gold – Coach Michael Blackburn

Surfing

• Owen Wright – 1 Bronze – Team coach Bede Durbridge

Swimming

• Emma McKeon – 4 Gold, 3 Bronze – Coach Michael Bohl
• Kaylee McKeown – 3 Gold, 1 Bronze – Coach Chris Mooney
• Ariarne Titmus – 2 Gold, 1 Silver, 1 Bronze – Coach Dean Boxall
• Cate Campbell – 2 Gold, 1 Bronze – Coach Simon Cusack
• Mollie O’Callaghan – 2 Gold, 1 Bronze – Coach Dean Boxall
• Bronte Campbell – 1 Gold, 1 Bronze – Coach Simon Cusack
• Meg Harris – 1 Gold, 1 Bronze – Coach Dean Boxall
• Madison Wilson – 1 Gold, 1 Bronze – Coach Peter Bishop
• Zac Stubblety-Cook – 1 Gold, 1 Bronze – Coach Vince Raleigh
• Emily Seebohm – 1 Gold, 1 Bronze – Coach Michael Bohl
• Brianna Throssell – 1 Gold, 2 Bronze – Coach Michael Palfrey
• Chelsea Hodges – 1 Gold – Coach Sean Eels
• Kyle Chalmers – 1 Silver, 1 Bronze – Coach Peter Bishop
• Jack McLoughlin – 1 Silver – Coach Vince Raleigh
• Alexander Graham – 2 Bronze – Coach Richard Scarce
• Zac Incerti – 2 Bronze – Coach Mick Palfrey
• Matthew Temple – 2 Bronze – Coach Wayne Lawes
• Brendon Smith – 1 Bronze – Coach Wayne Lawes
• Cameron McEvoy – 1 Bronze – Coach Richard Scarce
• Mack Horton – 1 Bronze – Coach Craig Jackson
• Thomas Neill – 1 Bronze – Coach Damien Jones
• Elijah Winnington – 1 Bronze – Coach Dean Boxall
• Tamsin Cook -1 Bronze – Coach Mick Palfrey
• Leah Neale – 1 Bronze – Coach Vince Raleigh
• Isaac Cooper – 1 Bronze – Coach Damien Jones
• Kareena Lee – 1 Bronze – Coach John  Rodgers

Tennis

• Mixed Doubles (Ash Barty & John Peers) – 1 Bronze – Coaches Craig Tyzzer (Barty) & unknown (Peers)

Several Australian coaches have contributed to the success of other nations –

• Rowing – Paul Thompson was Head Coach of the Chinese team that won 3 medals – 1 gold and two bronze – a record medal haul for China
• Hockey’ – Alyson Annan coached the Netherlands women’s team that won the gold medal
• Hockey – Graham Reid coached Indian men’s hockey team to the bronze medal.
• Cycling – John Beasley coach Malaysia to a silver medal

Previous articles published related to coaching –

Diversity in coaches is crucial for Rio medal success – 2016

Contribution of Overseas Coaches to the AIS and Australian Sport – 2020