Johns predicts Games medals

Even considering the challenges it faces on the global stage, it has been a particularly lean four years for Swimming New Zealand.

But chief executive Steve Johns can see a ray of light on the Gold Coast.

Preparation for April’s Commonwealth Games ramped up this week following the announcement of the team to represent New Zealand.

But while Johns was reluctant to put a number on the medal target, he was ‘‘pretty optimistic’’ about what the young group can deliver.

‘‘We think we can come back with some silverware, absolutely,’’ Johns said. ‘‘Swimming at the Commonwealth Games is a very tough sport, you look at Australia, South Africa, Canada, it’s very, very tough. But we think we’ve got the swimmers who can perform and come back with some silverware.’’

Johns is right to be wary of the competition – swimming is traditionally one of the stronger sports at the Games. But the Kiwi team are working off a low bar.

Take away para-swimmer Sophie Pascoe’s two golds at the 2014 Games in Glasgow and New Zealand won just two medals in the pool – a gold and silver by the nowretired Lauren Boyle.

It was even worse at last year’s Rio Olympics, where no Kiwi swimmers made an A final, resulting in a funding cut for 2017 by High Performance Sport NZ from $1.3 million to about $900,000.

Out of the water, the high performance programme has struggled for stability.

The reduction of the budget forced Swimming NZ to disestablish two coaching roles earlier this year, while they have been through three head coaches since Glasgow.

The latest of those, Jerry Olszewski, resigned due to personal reasons in September – just seven

We think we can come back with some silverware.