Bill Sweetenham
William 'Bill' Sweetenham A.M. (born 1950 in Australia) is a competitive swimming coach and founder of Sweetenham Performance Consulting.
Honours
- Sweetenham was made a Member of the Order of Australia in January 1989.
- He was awarded the Prime Minister's Award in 1991.
- He was awarded a Churchill Fellowship in 1980 to study swim coaching in the USA.
- He was inducted as an Honor Coach in the International Swimming Hall of Fame, Class of 2018.
Coaching Achievement
- 5 times Olympic Head Coach
- 8 times Commonwealth Games Swim Coach
- 9 times World Championships Coach
- 63 swimmers placed on major National Open Teams (long course)
- 27 long course medallists at major international meets (Olympic Games and World Championships)
- 9 world record holders (long and short course)
- Head National Olympic Coach for 3 different countries
Coaching Career
He was the National Performance Director for British Swimming until 2007, having previously been the National Youth Coach for Swimming Australia. Sweetenham has worked directly with more than 40 Olympians.
He coached many world record swims by Stephen Holland, Michelle Ford and Tracey Wickham, and was the first State Director of Coaching for Queensland and Australia. He served as Head Swimming Coach at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra and Head Coach of Australia's Olympic Team, Head Swimming Coach at the Hong Kong Sports Institute and Hong Kong's Head Olympic Swim Coach, National Youth Coach for Australian Swimming (1995-2000) and National Performance Director of British Swimming from November 2000 to October 2007.
He led the Australian Swim Team at numerous Olympic and Commonwealth Games and led an unprecedented podium success at the 1994 Asian and Commonwealth Games. He placed 9 swimmers on the 1989 Pan Pacific Team with a 100% strike rate for improved heats-to-final performances and 100% personal best time strike rate.
