The Alan Thompson saga with Swim Australia seems to have been finally put to rest. It started when an anonymous claim was made about undisclosed “inappropriate behavior was made after a 2007 Gold Coast coaching conference. Although the allegations made against him were not believed to be illegal in nature, they were still alleged to be conduct unbecoming of a national team coach.
After a four-month investigation, Louise Donahoe SC has cleared Thompson in the matter, citing a lack of evidence supporting the claims.
“On the basis of the investigation conducted by Louise Donohoe SC, there was no evidence found to support the allegation of inappropriate behavior made against Mr Thompson, as alleged in an anonymous letter referred to Swimming Australia through media sources whilst he was National Head Coach.
“The final findings were presented to the Swimming Australia board on Monday of this week and an out of session board meeting was held last night to discuss the findings.
“This matter is now closed and Swimming Australia will be making no further comment on the investigation.”
In December of last year, Thompson was suspended from his duties while the investigation was completed. During his suspension, his role within the team was reduced, although this was reported to be an entirely separate matter regarding the Swim Australia board’s belief that the belief that National Team Coach and High Performance Manager should be two independent positions. Alan Thompson had united the two positions when he became the program lead after the 2004 Olympics.
Thompson decided that he could not accept a reduced role within the team, and subsequently resigned in March. Youth National Team coach Leigh Nugent took over the role of head swim coach, a position that he held during Australia’s very successful run at the 2004 Olympics in Athens. David Crocker took over the role of High Performance Manager. Crocker is the former director of Swim New Zealand.