Notre Dame Adds Olympian Joao De Lucca To Coaching Staff
Notre Dame on Saturday announced the hiring of Joao De Lucca to its swimming and diving coaching staff.
The two-time Olympian from Brazil swam for his new boss, Chris Lindauer, at Louisville.
De Lucca swam in the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, the latter in his home country. A long-time national teamer, he won three NCAA titles for the Cardinals, in the 100 and 200 freestyle.
De Lucca’s international honors include a gold medal in the 200 free at the 2015 Pan American Games along with two relay golds, plus relay gold and silver at the 2019 edition of the meet. He has a gold and a bronze from the 2014 World Short-Course Championships, both won on Brazilian relays. De Lucca retired from swimming in the summer of 2020.
The 33-year-old will handle coaching on the deck as well as behind-the-scenes logistical tasks.
“I’m excited to welcome Joao, Carol and their two beautiful daughters to our Irish Family,” Lindauer said in a university statement. “As a three-time NCAA champion and two- time Olympian, Joao brings world-class experience to our program. As a coach, he will bring a high level of technical and strategic value to Notre Dame. His hire will continue to level up our program at the national and world class-level on which we are building. Go Irish!”
De Lucca received his bachelor’s degree in communications from Louisville. His coaching experience began in 2015 as an assistant coach at Louisville’s associated club team, Cardinal Aquatics. He became the program’s head coach in 2019. Since then, he has served as a clinician for Fitter and Faster. He has also worked as a private coach for para-swimmers and served as a personal coach for Race Pace Swim Club from 2019-20.
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