Triple-Olympian Petria Thomas joins Swimming Australia

Swimming Australia has announced that triple-Olympian Petria Thomas has been appointed its new National Training Centre and Network Support Manager.

A three-time Olympic gold medallist, Thomas' previous sports administration experience coupled with her firsthand involvement in elite level swimming will no doubt be beneficial as Swimming Australia continues to move forward into Rio 2016 and beyond.

Thomas' successful implementation of projects at the Australian Sports Commission demonstrates her ability to collaborate effectively and develop key relationships with high performance staff across a variety of sports, elite athletes, other Government Departments, and key sport sector partners.

Having Thomas in this role will be important in quickly establishing relationships and credibility with athletes, coaches, high performance staff and sports science and medicine professionals.

Swimming Australia Director of High Performance Michael Scott said Thomas was very well respected within the Swimming Community and her appointment within Swimming Australia would be another step forward for the organisation.

Scott explained "Petria's knowledge of the management and organisational side of sport, as well as her firsthand experience as an elite athlete will no doubt be a positive gain for the high performance swimming community."

Her role is a new position in the organisation with Swimming Australia taking over responsibility for the role from the Australian Institute of Sport.

In this role Thomas will be working closely with the High Performance Unit to provide operational and management support to a number of key athletes and coaches.

Thomas will also be involved in the coordination of a number of facilities and programs based at the AIS, including the Swimming Australia Canberra residential program, national team camps, the sports science/sports medicine and innovation research program as well as the injury and rehabilitation program.

She will also provide support and assistance to a number of Swimming Australia funded training centres through Australia.

Over the course of her swimming career Thomas achieved success at the highest level of the sport, representing Australia at three Olympic Games (Atlanta, Sydney, and Athens), three Commonwealth Games and three World Championships.

This first-hand experience will give Thomas a unique insight into the way elite sport operates and a critical understanding of the environment that needs to exist for coaches, athletes and service providers to achieve excellence.

Thomas said she was excited to be able to give back to the sport and help swimming return to the top on the world stage, stating "I'm excited by the opportunity to re-join the swimming community and I am looking forward to contributing to the positive change process that is already well underway."