Former national swim coach Jan Cameron dies
ONE of New Zealand’s greatest swimming coaches has died.
Jan Cameron died suddenly early on Monday morning, aged 70.
Originally from Australia, Cameron spent 20 years in New Zealand, proving influential on an international level.
The national head coach from 200108, Cameron coached many of New Zealand’s top swimmers to various world champion ships, Olympics and Commonwealth Games.
Among those to benefit from her tutelage were Moss Burmester, Glenn Snyders, Andy McMillan and her son, Scott TalbotCameron.
In November 2008, she switched position to become the general manager of performance and pathways with Swimming New Zealand.
That saw her become a driv ing force behind the organisation’s first recognised high performance programme.
In 2011, she resigned from that post and returned to her native Australia.
There she was the head coach for Swimming Australia’s Paralympic programme, before being made Australia’s Paralympics Mentor Coach.
In 2015, she became just the third woman in Australia to receive the platinum coaching licence, swimming’s highest coaching accolade.
The award recognises those who have coached athletes to medalwinning performance at the Olympics and world championships, as well as showing commitment to the sport at international level.
As a swimmer she won a silver medal representing Australia the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games in the 4x100m freestyle relay.
That was followed by three medals at the 1966 Commonwealth Games.
She turned her hand to coaching in 1968 in New South Wales, followed by stints in Canada and the United States.
In 1991 she moved to New Zealand and began working as the head coach for the North Shore Swimming Club.
She is being remembered nationally for her success coaching in New Zealand.
‘‘There is no doubt that Jan has played a highly successful role in swimming in New Zealand as an incredibly successful coach at the North Shore Swimming Club and then as part of the Swimming New Zealand high performance team,’’ Swimming New Zealand chief executive Steve Johns said.