FINA learnt with great sadness about the loss of Gennadi Touretski, from Russia, who passed away at the age of 71 on August 7, 2020.
Touretski will be remembered to be responsible for guiding the careers of some of the greatest swimmers the sport has ever produced.
Touretski, considered the world’s best sprint coach, was a swimmer himself for the USSR in the late 1960’s. He earned a degree in engineering, majoring in biomechanics, biochemistry, fluid mechanics, and sports physiology but despite his scientific background, his approach was more creative than that. Working with his athletes was about sculpting the star swimmers Alex Popov (RUS), Ian Thorpe (AUS), Matt Dunn (AUS), Michael Klim (AUS), Nicole Livingstone (AUS) and Sarah Ryan (AUS).
Following the 1992 Olympics, Touretski moved to Australia and continued to play a big role in the Australian Swimming success and set the foundations for another history making partnership.
Touretski left Australia in 2002 and took up coaching in Switzerland eventually becoming the National Head Coach.