Dean Boles from Canada has decided to leave his job as national coach at the end of 2018.

The successful Nordic championships in short course this weekend has been Dean Boles’ last task wearing the Danish national team colours as he has decided to leave his job as national coach for the Danish Swimming Federation. The national coach took the difficult decision primarily because of the distance to his family and because of a unique job opportunity in Canadian swimming sport.

– I took the decision to leave Danish swimming sport and return to Canada with very mixed feelings. It has been hard for me to take the decision of leaving Denmark and Danish swimming sport at a time when I see Danish swimming going in a very positive direction, but I have also been missing my family a lot. I have now been given a unique opportunity to get closer to my family and at the same time return to work with Canadian swimming sport and help shape the development of Swim Ontario following a new plan. It is a very special opportunity which I feel that I need to grab, says the Danish national coach Dean Boles.

High performance manager in the Danish Swimming Federation, Lars Green Bach, understands the reasons behind the decision of Dean Boles to leave Danish swimming, but he also regrets that a well-functioning cooperation both at the professional and personal level will cease at the end of the year.

– Dean Boles has done an exemplary job as Danish national swimming coach in my view. With his constant and firm focus on the international development, a strong commitment and good cooperation skills, he has contributed to crucial steps for the development of Danish swimming. Based on strong and healthy values for the work with our national team, Dean has contributed to achievements at the highest international level for Danish swimming during the period in which he has been the Danish national coach. He has also been attentive to efforts which can help strengthening the depth of Danish high performance swimming in the short run as well as the long run, and he has had a very good understanding of the work, role and responsibilities of the Danish Swimming Federation. This is why I regret Dean’s decision, and I am convinced that many others will miss him in Danish swimming sport.

Lars Green Bach also says that he does not see any reason to worry about the future despite Dean Boles’ departure since Danish swimming sport is still in a very strong position.

– The team loses a very good and important player, but the team is still here. As I see it, Danish swimming has a number of strong clubs and training environments which can continue the work together with a competent team of employees in the sports department within the framework of Danish swimming sport’s sporting strategy and action plan “From proud results to new common ambitions”. This is why I am confident that we can maintain our focus on the international development and performance of the swimmers in the national team. Clearly, we can expect that some things have to be prioritized differently or action areas must be postponed after the departure of Dean, until we have found a solution to fill the vacuum he leaves behind.

However, our ambition has not changed, it is still to keep the Danish national team at the highest international level, says the high performance manager of the Danish swimming Federation, Lars Green Bach.

Dean Boles has been national team coach since 2015. He has had, among other things, the overall professional responsibility for the national teams in the Danish Swimming Federation and cooperation with the Danish swimming clubs concerning a continuous development of high performance in Danish swimming sport.

– My 3 1/2 years in Denmark as national coach for Danish swimmers have been extremely rewarding and stimulating for me. I have been given the opportunity to cooperate with some outstanding people who feel a deep passion for their sport. It has been a privilege for me to work with Danish swimmers and feel the capability and professionalism which drives Danish swimmers to perform much better than could be expected at the international level. At this point I feel that Danish swimming is developing in a good direction, and I think that the future looks promising – especially when we look at the summer 2019 and the Olympic Games in Tokyo 2020.

The Danish Swimming Federation has, in collaboration with the Danish elite sport organisation Team Denmark, started a process of finding a new candidate for the sports department who can contribute to the work with the Danish national team swimmers and their training platforms toward the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2020 – and the further development toward the Olympic Games in Paris in 2024.

Press release from the Danish Swimming Federation