Ex NZ swim coach dies
Former New Zealand swimming coach Jan Cameron has died suddenly in Queensland, aged 70.
Cameron, who Swimming Australia confirmed on Monday night passed in the early hours of Monday morning, was widely seen as the driving force behind the setting up of New Zealand swimming’s first high performance programme.
A silver medallist for Australia in the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Cameron shifted to New Zealand in
1991, initially working as head coach for the North Shore Swimming Club, a club with little resources but one to which she attracted many of New Zealand’s top swimmers.
She was appointed national coach in
2001, with Swimming New Zealand (SNZ) changing her role to general manager of performance and pathways in 2008. Essentially, she was in charge of high performance.
"As Swimming Australia’s current para sport mentor coach, Jan was a much-loved member of our swimming family – staff, coaches, officials and athletes alike.
‘‘Jan’s illustrious career has spanned all areas of swimming including as an athlete, coach and administrator,’’ Swimming Australia said in a statement.
‘‘Jan will be sorely missed within the industry, by colleagues, coaches, athletes and all in the wider swimming community.
‘‘Swimming Australia will advise an appropriate memorial in due course. Our thoughts are with Jan’s family and friends at this sad time.’’
Cameron began her coaching career in 1968 at a small New South Wales club in Port Kembla. Her passion for coaching grew and she expanded her experience working in Canada, USA and New Zealand. She was a strong advocate for achieving more and doing better than your best, in all aspects of life.
Her first Games experience came in
1972 as a Paralympic team coach and she then made a significant contribution to team New Zealand as an Olympic coach at the Sydney Games in 2000. And more success followed as the head coach for New Zealand at the Olympic Games in Athens and Beijing.
Cameron had some great success at SNZ but it finished badly in 2011 with her resignation, about three months after the release of the Ineson Report.
She was heavily criticised in the report commissioned by Sport and Recreation New Zealand and written by well known sports administrator Chris Ineson, who described Swimming NZ’s high performance culture as dysfunctional and unsustainable.
‘‘It wasn’t so much the Ineson Report but Swimming New Zealand’s acceptance of it,’’ she told Stuff.
‘‘Even though the Ineson Report is fraught with a lot of inaccuracies and I don’t agree with it, it was accepted by Swimming New Zealand and they decided to move on that.
‘‘Really, the proffered restructure was not as I think it should be so it’s time for me to move on.’’
She had planned to stand down after the 2012 Olympics but instead was in London as a television commentator.
Back on home soil, Cameron represented Australia as a coach at the
2014 Para Pan Pacific Championships, the 2014 Brazil Open, the 2015 Berlin Open, the 2015 IPC World Championships and 2016 Rio Paralympic Games.
One of Cameron’s biggest coaching accolades came in 2015 when she was announced as just the third Australian woman to gain her Platinum Coaching License following on from her swimmers’ outstanding results at the
2015 IPC World Championships in Glasgow. In February 2017, Cameron was announced as the national para sport mentor coach; helping to develop technical knowledge to guide and further upskill our emerging para coaches and played a vital role as part of the coaching leadership team created by Swimming Australia.
She married Kevin Cameron, well known for his career as head of sports production with Sky Television in New Zealand, in 1990. They had been engaged 20 years earlier before splitting.
After the separation, she married prominent Australian swim coach Don Talbot.
They had a son, Scott TalbotCameron, who swam for New Zealand at the 2000 and 2004 Olympics.