Swimming head coach Lopez to leave after Rio Olympics

 SINGAPORE — National swim coach Sergio Lopez stunned the local swimming fraternity by announcing his resignation on Friday (April 29), just four months before the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

The Spaniard gave his notice, which was ­accepted by the Singapore Swimming ­Association (SSA), on Friday afternoon. A meeting with the national swimmers and their parents was called in the evening.

Lopez explained at the meeting his reason for quitting just 15 months after he joined the SSA. 

TODAY understands that many of the swimmers cried when they heard the news.

The former Olympic bronze ­medallist said he decided to move back to the United States with his family and pursue “a good opportunity” that had cropped up. TODAY understands that he has accepted a lucrative deal from Auburn University in Alabama in the United States to be its associate head coach. 

According to swimming news website swimswam.com, the ­Auburn post is one of the highest paying swimming jobs in the US. The SSA has started looking for his successor.

Lopez, who quit his post barely 15 months after joining the SSA in Jan 2015 in a five-year deal, said in a media release: “When I took up this job, it was because it was more than a job; it was a role in which I felt I could make a real difference.

“I’ve had a wonderful journey over the past 15 months, and garnered much success with the wonderful talents in Singapore. However, I have received a good opportunity to move back to the US with my family and made the tough decision to leave my role here and return home.”

The 47-year-old, who was Joseph Schooling’s coach at Bolles School in Florida for five years before he came here, has enjoyed a successful stint, which included leading Singapore’s swim team to a record haul of 23 gold medals at last year’s South-east Asian Games on home soil.

His immediate goal, however, will be to lead the Republic’s swimming contingent — spearheaded by Quah Zheng Wen and Schooling — at the Rio Olympics. 

“I remain committed to achieving the best for our swimmers and for Singapore, the country I’ve called home (for) the last 15 months. I will ­ensure that my impending departure will not distract the swimmers in any way,” he said.

In his time here, Lopez was ­also instrumental in developing and ­implementing the National Training Centre pathway development and talent identification ecosystem for swimming.

However, TODAY understands that Lopez — who had previously stated his ambition to make Singapore one of the world’s top five swimming nations — has been increasingly frustrated with what he sees as a lack of support for his plans for Singa­pore swimming.

There were murmurs of displeasure over the lack of dedicated pool usage at the OCBC Aquatic Centre — the venue of the National Training Centre. The national swimmers had to shuffle between Toa Payoh Swimming Complex and Singapore Sports School at times. He decided to send the team to Phuket for a training camp two weeks ago, as the OCBC Aquatic Centre was ­unavailable due to the National ­Inter-School Swimming Championships.

There were also suggestions that his wife Sandy and two children were ­unsettled here. 

Lopez could not be reached for further comment on Friday night.

“It’s a pity to hear that he is resigning,” said an official, who declined to be named. “He had just started to ­develop such a strong team identity and moulded all the swimmers under him to believe that they can achieve success. His winning mentality has been strongly embraced by his swimmers.”