By Jim Morris

The six medals won at last summer’s Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro showed the strength of Canada’s female swimmers and their potential for future success.

While pleased with the women’s medal haul, Swimming Canada is now focused on developing a strategy so the men can also find prosperity. Programs are being put in place to enhance the performance of current male swimmers while also targeting and developing a new generation.

“Our men’s team is in a definite rebuilding phase,” said John Atkinson, Swimming Canada’s Director, High Performance. “The current performance of the men’s team has taken a number of quads to be at the point we are at now.”

Canada won three swimming medals at the 2012 London Olympics, all from men, but there were signs the men’ program needed to rebuild.

Atkinson points to the 2008 Canadian Olympic Trials where eight men swam under 50 seconds in the 100-metre freestyle final. By 2013, no man was under 50 seconds in the 100-m final.

“What was underneath did not have much depth,” said Atkinson. “We had older males retire. Things in men’s swimming take longer to rebuild.”

Swimmers such as Javier Acevedo, of the Ajax Aquatic Club, and Yuri Kisil and Markus Thormeyer, who both train at the High Performance Centre – Vancouver, “are on the cusp of breaking through internationally,” said Atkinson.

“We have younger athletes that we just have to work with their coaches now.”

Joining Atkinson in Swimming Canada’s rebuild will be Martyn Wilby, recently hired as the senior coach for the Olympic program; Mark Perry, newly appointed open water/distance coach; Ken McKinnon, national development coach; and Iain McDonald, senior manager NEXTGEN high performance pathway.

Identification, education and communication will be the cornerstones for developing the men’s program.

“We have four key technical people working in the Olympic program so we can have more interaction with coaches and carded athletes,” said Atkinson.

“It’s all about educating the coaches to be able to work with the athletes in their home program. It’s about understanding the things we brought into Swimming Canada over the last year.”

Wilby will travel to clubs and high performance centres across Canada to work with both athletes and coaches.

“It’s educating the athletes and the coaches exactly what high performance is,” said Wilby, who spent 19 years at the University of Florida.

“We have to find those people and educate them and help their coaches in knowing what it’s going to take to be a world-class athlete, a world championship finalist, an Olympic finalist. As opposed to just being – and I say ‘just’ in the nicest possible way – a Canadian finalist.”

One of Perry’s roles is to give young swimmers the skills to compete in middle distance and distance events. That will increase the depth of competition while presenting swimmers more options.

“It’s all to do with building an engine for young swimmers,” Perry said. “As they get older you realize they may be naturally more of a sprint animal or naturally a middle-distance swimmer, or naturally a distance swimmer.

“One of the issues is we need to build that engine with all our swimmers.”

While Atkinson has an eye on the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, he knows identifying and growing young talent – both male and female – is essential if Canadians want to reach the podium at the 2024 Games and beyond.

He praised McKinnon for “a phenomenal job with the development of athletes and coaches over a number of years.”

Over the next few months Swimming Canada has plans for male development camps for both emerging swimmers and their coaches.

“We’ll be engaging with the coaches about what they need to do to bring through their male swimmers,” said Atkinson.

Perry also emphasized the women’s program won’t be forgotten.

“You can’t improve the men at the expense of the women,” he said.

While there is a sense of urgency to improve the men’s program, Atkinson understands the importance of patience and not rushing anyone through the system.

“It’s a consistent approach and having a strategy, but starting the strategy now,” he said. “It’s a very individual approach. It’s recognizing (someone) having the skills and physical attributes to be successful. Then working with them and their coach to have an individual plan in place for them.”

Wilby said finding and developing talent doesn’t always fit into a four-year Olympic cycle. The search for the next great swimmer never ends.

“Identifying these people doesn’t start and end after each Olympics,” he said. “It’s got to be continual so we have sustainability.”