Australian swim coach Jacco Verhaeren laughs off legend Laurie Lawrence’s ‘w****r’ gibe
Laurie Lawrence has slammed him as a “w****r” whose national selection policy makes him “want to spew”, but Australian swim coach Jacco Verhaeren is standing by his tough-love approach to the sport.
Swimming
Don't miss out on the headlines from Swimming. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Jacco Verhaeren has laughed off Laurie Lawrence’s description of him as “a wanker”, revealing the latest personal attack is just part and parcel of what he’s copped since being appointed as Australian swimming’s first foreign head coach.
One of Australia’s greatest coaches and motivators who masterminded Jon Sieben and Duncan Armstrong’s Olympic successes in the 1980s, the outspoken 78-year-old Lawrence unleashed a scathing criticism of the Dutchman over the contentious selection policy to pick the Dolphins team for next year’s Tokyo Olympics.
Kayo is your ticket to the best sport streaming Live & On-Demand. New to Kayo? Get your 14-day free trial & start streaming instantly >
Under the strict rules that have been implemented to choose the squad, Australian swimmers who finish first and second at the national trials and achieve the official Olympic qualifying standard could still miss out on the chance to compete at Tokyo if their times are outside the top eight from last year’s world championships,
“Jacco’s a wanker, and you can quote me on that,” Lawrence said.
“This policy is absolutely ridiculous, it makes me want to spew. It should be first and second and away you go.
”It’s cutthroat enough to finish first or second at the trials but plenty of swimmers are pure racers that will improve when they get to the Olympics.”
But Verhaeren, who was headhunted from Europe to change the “toxic culture” of Australian swimming after the disastrous 2012 London Olympics, says he stands by his tough-love policy even if it has meant ruffling a few feathers.
“Laurie’s Laurie. I don‘t know him that well and by the sounds of it he doesn’t want to be friends and that’s fine,” Verhaeren said.
“I mightn’t have chosen the same words he used but I respect the man for what he has achieved because he’s a legendary coach in this country.
“I know how passionate he is and I have no problem with that but his words are his words. One thing I’ve learnt over the years is not to take these things personally.”
MORE SPORT NEWS:
Formula 1 season guide: Lewis Hamilton chasing Michael Schumacher’s record seven titles
England v West Indies to be shown on Fox Sports in Australia as Test cricket returns
Zion Williamson just got even scarier — NBA star is ripped after quarantine
Verhaeren’s tenure in charge of the Dolphins ends in September when he heads back to the Netherlands with his family, who have called the Gold Coast home since 2014.
While his reign will inevitably be judged by how Australia’s swimmers perform in Japan next year, Verhaeren said his real legacy stretches beyond medal tallies.
Swimming Australia’s credibility was at an all-time low when he was recruited to clean things up after investigations lifted the lid on athletes breaching team rules relating to alcohol, prescription drugs and bullying as well as sordid reports of coaches taking part in strip parties, watching porn and binge-drinking.
A strict disciplinarian with a record of delivering big results after guiding Pieter van den Hoogenband, Inge De Bruijn and Ranomi Kromowidjojo to mutiple Olympic titles, Verhaeren was aware from the outset that not everyone in Australia supported the hiring of an overseas head coach though he is convinced it was the right call.
“Australia is a very proud swimming nation and there’s no shortage of great coaches here so to suddenly have a foreigner at the helm, I totally understand the thinking about why do we need somebody from the outside,” he said.
“But let’s be honest, it was a pretty difficult time post 2012 for Swimming Australia and I think by bringing me, or any other foreigner for that matter, because I wasn’t part of the history and so I wasn’t part of the issues and the problems in the country – in that instance, it was helpful.
“Of course I do understand that some people had second thoughts about why a non-Australian should be at the helm of the swimming team so I hope over the years I’ve changed that view.
“I’m very aware I did things different to my predecessors but to be honest if they would have gone down the same path they would have the same issues.”
DEADLINE MISSED: RUSSIA FACES ATHLETICS EXPULSION
Russia could be expelled from World Athletics after missing the deadline to pay more than pounds 5 million in fines.
The Russian Federation (Rusaf) had claimed this week that the financial impact of COVID-19 meant that it could not afford to pay fines imposed after it admitted to assisting an athlete in trying to avoid a doping sanction.
A statement from World Athletics confirmed yesterday (Thursday) that Rusaf had missed the July 1 deadline for the dollars 5 million (about pounds 4 million) fine and a further dollars 1.31 million (about pounds 1.05 million) in costs for its reinstatement.
World Athletics has responded to that by suspending the program for enabling some Russian athletes, subject to the Doping Review Board, to compete as authorised neutral athletes. But senior sources have told The Times that the World Athletics Council may now revisit its decision this month and could recommend to its congress that the Russians be expelled.
Congress usually coincides with the World Athletics Championships, which were due to take place in Eugene next summer but have now been postponed until the summer of 2022. An emergency congress is likely next year, although it could fall after the postponed Tokyo Olympic Games.
An apparent refusal by Russia to comply with the demands of World Athletics lessens the likelihood of its suspension being lifted and the participation of its neutral athletes in Japan. The Russians are already threatening to take the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport but the World Athletics president, Lord Coe, made it clear yesterday (Thursday) that he has an appetite for a fight.
A statement from the organisation said: “World Athletics can confirm that it has not received the payments due from the Russian Athletics Federation on July 1, nor any information on when the monies may be paid, despite reminders and correspondence with the federation.
“As a result, World Athletics will stand down both the Doping Review Board and the Russian Taskforce until World Athletics’ Council has reviewed and discussed the situation at their meeting on July 29-30, as set out in the decision made by the council on 12 March.”
Coe said: “We recognise these are difficult times, but we are very disappointed by the lack of progress made by Rusaf in terms of the requirements set in March.
“The serious allegations of breaching the anti-doping rules resulted in a new Rusaf administration and we had assurances that change was on its way.
“However, the experience of the Russian Taskforce, chaired by Rune Andersen, is that this has fallen well short of expectations. Rusaf is letting its athletes down badly. We have done as much as we can to expedite our process and support Rusaf with its reinstatement plan, but seemingly to no avail.”
—The Times, London
Originally published as Australian swim coach Jacco Verhaeren laughs off legend Laurie Lawrence’s ‘w****r’ gibe