To see all of the 2014 Swammy Award winners, presented by TYR, click here.
2014 HONOUREE: Simon Cusack
In 2014 Simon Cusak’s athletes won 10 Commonwealth Games medals, nine Pan Pacific Championship medals, three World Short Course Championship medals, were part of two world record breaking relay teams along with two athletes setting Australian records in individual events.
Cusak is the Elite Coach at the Commercial Swimming Club and is the personal coach for Cate Campbell, Bronte Campbell, Tommaso D’Orsogna and Christian Sprenger.
At the Commonwealth Games Cate brought home gold in the 100 freestyle as well as the 4 x 100 freestyle and medley relays and a silver in the 50 freestyle. Bronte came away with a bronze in the 50 freestyle and a silver in the 100 freestyle along with a gold from the 4 x 100 freestyle relay.
D’Orsogna won a bronze in the 100 freestyle and gold as part of the 4 x 100 freestyle relay while Sprenger collected a bronze in the 50 breaststroke.
At the Pan Pacific Championships the Campbell sisters continued to impress. Cate won gold in the 50 and 100 freestyle along with gold in both the 4 x 100 freestyle and medley relays while Bronte won the silver in both sprint freestyle events as well as the gold in the 4 x 100 freestyle relay.
D’Orsogna won gold as part of the 4 x 100 freestyle relay and a bronze in the 4 x 100 medley relay.
The Australians set two world records in 2014 and Cusack’s athletes made up more than half of the swimmers involved. The women broke the 4 x 100 freestyle relay at the Commonwealth Games with both Campbell sisters making a contribution. The Aussies also broke the mixed 4 x 100 freestyle relay record with a team which included both Campbell sisters and D’Orsogna.
To close out the year Bronte Campbell and D’Orsogna both swam in Doha at the World Short Course Championships. Campbell won the silver in the 50 freestyle and collected another as part of the 4 x 100 medley relay while D’Orsogna won a bronze in the 100 butterfly.
Honourable Mentions (In no particular order)
- Michael Bohl continues to develop great athletes at St. Peters Western. Grant Irvine, Brittany Elmslie, Mitch Larkin and Bronte Barratt all came home with hardware from the Commonwealth Games. Larkin and Barratt also medalled at the Pan Pacific Championships. Larkin also came away from Doha with a gold in the 100 backstroke and a bronze in the 200 backstroke. Along with his medal winning performances Larkin set new Commonwealth records in both the long course 200 backstroke and the short course 100 backstroke as well as a new Australian record in the short course 200 backstroke.
- Matt Brown coached Emily Seebohm to some tremendous performances in 2014. Seebohm won the gold in the 100 backstroke and 4 x 100 medley relay as well as the silver in the 200 backstroke at both the Commonwealth Games and Pan Pacific Championships. She also collected silver in the 50, 100 and 200 backstroke along with a bronze in the 100 IM at the World Short Course Championships. Seebohm also set Commonwealth records in the short course 50, 100 and 200 backstroke in Doha.