Top coach selected for Team GB at Tokyo Olympics
Award-winning coach Steven Tigg is set to travel to Tokyo with Team GB for the 2020 Olympic Games – making him the first University of Stirling representative to be selected for next year’s competition.
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Award-winning coach Steven Tigg is set to travel to Tokyo with Team GB for the 2020 Olympic Games – making him the first University of Stirling representative to be selected for next year’s competition.
Tigg, the University’s Head Performance Swim Coach, is one of eight coaches nominated by British Swimming to provide support to their athletes ahead of and during the Olympics. He is expected to be joined in Japan by some of Stirling’s high performance swimmers – which include Duncan Scott, Ross Murdoch and Aimee Willmott.
Tigg was one of Team Scotland’s coaches at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games and supported British athletes at this year’s World Championships in Gwangju, South Korea.
Announcing the coaching selections, British Swimming Head Coach Bill Furniss said: “I would like to congratulate the eight coaches we are nominating to the British Olympic Association to work with our Olympic team. All have come through a tough selection process and proved their ability to deliver results in the performance arena.
“The early appointment of our coaching staff follows the pattern established in the last Olympic cycle. The coaches will now be an integral part of team development activity as they build relationships with the athletes at camps and competitions in the lead in to the Olympic Games.”
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Head Performance Swim Coach, University of Stirling
The Olympic Games in Tokyo promises to be a spectacular experience for all participating athletes and I am excited to see what Team GB’s swimmers can achieve in the pool.
Tigg – who won Coach of the Year at the 2018 Team Scotland Scottish Sports Awards – said: “It is always a proud moment to represent your country – and I am absolutely delighted to, once again, be nominated to join Team GB at a major competition.
“The Olympic Games in Tokyo promises to be a spectacular experience for all participating athletes and I am excited to see what Team GB’s swimmers can achieve in the pool.”
Cathy Gallagher, Executive Director of Sport at the University of Stirling – the UK’s Sport University of the Year, said: “The countdown to the Olympic Games is well underway and I am delighted, and incredibly proud, that the University will be represented in Tokyo. Hopefully a number of our high performance swimmers will also feature on the world’s biggest sporting stage.
“Steven’s nomination is testament to the hard work and expertise that he, and his colleagues, exhibit on a daily basis here at Stirling. I know that Team GB and its athletes will benefit from the world class knowledge and experience that Steven brings – and wish them all the best at the Games.”
Stirling has been Scotland’s University for Sporting Excellence since 2008 and is The Times / Sunday Times Good University Guide’s UK Sports University of the Year 2020. It offers an unrivalled all-round environment for excellence in sport: education, research, participation, and performance.
The Olympic Games will run from Friday 24 July to Sunday 9 August, 2020.