Dave Johnson (swim coach)
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Dave Johnson (born on 1951 in Montreal) is the former head coach for Swimming Canada, serving in that capacity from 1993 to 2004. His twin brother Tom is currently a coach for Swim Canada.
Johnson became head coach in 1988 after Don Talbot was dismissed by the Canadian Olympic Committee. It was widely alleged that Talbot was fired for refusing to put the daughter of a Committee on the national team. Olympic Gold medalist Alex Baumann was highly critical of Talbot's firing and Johnson's management of the national team. It was alleged that Johnson in turn had Baumann blacklisted from coaching positions in Canada.
Johnson oversaw the coaching of the national swim program for three Olympics, Atlanta (1996), Sydney (2000), and Athens (2004). He received much criticism after Team Canada won only one bronze medal at Sydney, and was under fire again after 2002 Commonwealth Games where they did not win a gold medal.
Criticism of Johnson escalated in 2004. The national team's best finishes in Athens were a pair of sixth-place finishes, while the men's 4x200-metre relay team finished fifth. Mark Tewksbury suggested that there was a lack of accountability at Swimming Canada, and that Johnson was given too much power.[1][2] In particular, Canada's success in the pool during the 1980s and early 1990s was due to regional swim clubs, but Johnson wanted to shift the focus to national swim centres such as the one in Calgary.
On the final day of the swim events at Athens, when no Canadians were left competing, Johnson was reportedly phoning up Swimming Canada board members in a bid to save his job. He also called a 6 a.m. team meeting for his athletes and ordered them to workout. The athletes missed the only opportunity they had to see family members off and viewed the moves as bully tactics by a desperate man.[3]
Shortly after the Athens Olympics, Swimming Canada president Rob Colburn dismissed Johnson. Johnson said that his firing represented "a knee-jerk reaction" to a problem that has been coming for quite some time.[4]
Johnson was succeeded by Pierre Lafontaine, a former Talbot protege, and Team Canada turned in much improved results at the 2005 World Aquatics Championships.
[edit] Appointment of Canada's first female Olympic swim coach
Johnson appointed Shauna Nolden Nolden as Canada's first female Olympic swim coach on June 4, 2000.
The appointment was criticized by the Canadian Swimming Coaches Association, as Nolden was not selected on pre-determined criteria and results. None of the swimmers who trained with her qualified for finals at the Olympic team trials in Montreal. Several coaches - long regarded as an old-boys' club - called Nolden undeserving, while female coaches were unhappy that there was no opportunity to apply for the position. Furthermore, Nolden also did not hold a Level 4 coaching certificate as required by the Canadian Olympic Association, needing the COA to grant an exemption. There were frequent calls for Johnson to quit.
Nolden responded saying "I'm sorry it [the mudslinging] is out there. It casts a shadow on a really great thing," Nolden said. "Dave Johnson is extremely professional, as am I. You don't make an appointment to an Olympic team and risk the performance of the team." Johnson defended it as a affirmative-action move, as federal government funding agency Sport Canada was pushing national sport bodies to have females make up 30 per cent of coaching ranks by 2004, and described Nolden as a "trailblazer personality". [5][6][7][8]
[edit] Quebec flag waving
When swimmer Jennifer Carroll waved a Quebec flag on the podium at the 2002 Commonwealth Games, he threatened her with a six-month suspension if she did not apologize. Carroll wrote an apology to her teammates but refused to apologize to Johnson and Swimming Canada CEO Karen Spierkel.
Johnson compared Carroll's actions to those of two American track athletes, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, who did a black power salute on the podium at the 1968 Mexico City Olympic Games. Johnson said "You don't make political statements on a podium. She contends it wasn't that, but everyone else felt it was inappropriate. It would be the same if it was a British Columbia or Alberta flag." In a written report, he called the flag waving "unprofessional, self-serving, disrespectful, upsetting and the most embarrassing action by a Canadian swimmer in my history in the sport."
Johnson's comments created an uproar in Quebec. Bloc Québécois leader Gilles Duceppe noted that there were no repercussions when speed-skater Catriona Le May Doan mounted the podium at the 1998 Nagano Olympics with a Saskatchewan flag, while house leader Michel Gauthier stated "Are we to understand from the comments of the chief coach that the mere sight of a Quebec flag makes people at Swimming Canada sick?" Immigration Minister Denis Coderre, a former minister for amateur sport, said athletes should be allowed to show their pride in their provinces: "If the only reason that they did what they did to the swimmer was because she brandished the Quebec flag, it is completely unacceptable." Liberal MP Carole Marie Allard also advocated sanctions, saying "We're not obliged to sanction imbecility." Federal Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Stéphane Dion called Carroll's situation "unacceptable."
Swimming Canada CEO Karen Spierkel said the affair is closed and suggested that Carroll was manipulating the media to pressure Swimming Canada into giving her financial support that she did not deserve. Earlier in spring 2002, Carroll's Vanier College roommate and training partner, Nadine Rolland, sued Swimming Canada after her name was mistakenly left off the 2002 Commonwealth Games team, resulting in her reinstatement.
Secretary of state for amateur sport Paul DeVillers and Heritage Minister Sheila Copps ordered Swimming Canada to punish Johnson or forfeit $1.78 million in annual federal funding, which made up over half of the organization's total budget. Spierkel resigned as CEO on May 3, 2003.
Ironically, Johnson was born in Montreal, though he was based in Calgary as head coach, while Carroll was a bilingual Irish anglophone studying at the English-language Vanier College.
