Olympic gold medal maker Michael Bohl may be on the move

Odds shortening on Michael Bohl becoming the head swim coach of a new high-performance program at Griffith University.

Multiple Olympic gold medal winning coach Michael Bohl.

The odds are shortening dramatically on leading coach Michael Bohl becoming the head coach of a new high-performance program at Griffith University on the Gold Coast this year after his club, St Peters Western, was omitted from the new list of recognised high-performance centres published on Thursday.

Swimming Australia (SAL) revealed details of a restructured program this week that reduced the number of high-performance centres from 14 before the Rio Olympics to nine for the four years leading into the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

The three Queensland centres will be at Chandler in Brisbane (Simon Cusack and Vince Raleigh), the University of the Sunshine Coast (Chris Mooney) and Griffith University.

Surprisingly, Richard Scarce’s program at Bond University on the Gold Coast, where he trains Cameron McEvoy and Tom Fraser-Holmes, has been overlooked in favour of a brand-new facility at Griffith, which has yet to set up its program.

The SAL announcement said Griffith University was “in negotiation with a highly qualified coach to take on the role of high-performance coach and help grow this program from the ground up’’.

The fact that St Peters in ­Brisbane was omitted appears to confirm that Bohl, Australia’s most prolific producer of Olym­pians, is SAL’s preferred choice for that role.

Before Christmas, he confirmed that he had been approached about the job, but said that he was committed to St ­Peters at least until the national trials in April.

If Bohl does move from Brisbane to the Gold Coast, it will ­create significant disruption for a squad that comprised one quarter of the Australian Olympic team in Rio last year, including Australia’s most medalled Rio Olympian Emma McKeon (four), Olympic 200m butterfly silver medallist Madeline Groves and world championships 100m backstroke silver medallist Madison Wilson.

World backstroke champion and Olympic silver medallist Mitch Larkin has already moved, from Bohl to Cusack.

SAL high-performance manager Wayne Lomas refused to confirm that Bohl was the preferred candidate for the new high- performance centre, but said St Peters was excluded because there was “a little bit of un­certainty about its ability to provide all the elements of a high-performance environment’’.

Lomas mentioned that the outdoor pool at the private school was a poor option for high-­performance swimming in midwinter.

“We are in conversation with Bohly and we will be backing Bohly,’’ Lomas said. “We will look for the best opportunity for him and his athletes.’’

The other high-performance centres will be at Sydney Olympic Park (Adam Kable), Melbourne Vicentre (Craig Jackson), Nunawading (Scott Talbot), SA Aquatic and Leisure Centre (Peter Bishop) and Western Australian Institute of Sport (Mick Palfery).

The Australian Institute of Sport will become a national training centre focused on helping outstanding junior athletes make the leap into the national senior team, under the guidance of Ian Thorpe’s former coach ­Tracey Menzies.