Photo Courtesy: Asian Games
SEOUL – Olympic and world champion Tae Hwan Park will spend some time in the United States this week as he looks to shake up his training program 18 months before the 2016 Olympic Games.
Park, who has called Australian coach Michael Bohl his primary trainer for four years, will visit the Elite Team at SwimMAC Carolina this week, according to an article today on the website of the Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo. The article states that Park’s intent is to make the North Carolina team his new home base and hopes what he finds there is satisfactory enough to make Dave Marsh his new coach.
Park would add to an already stellar list of athletes training at SwimMAC Carolina if he makes the move. Among them is Ryan Lochte, who Park beat to the wall in the 200 freestyle at the 2012 Olympics. Park tied with Sun Yang for the silver medal in the 200 free, keeping Lochte off the medal podium with his fourth-place finish.
But since then, Park has not made much of an impact on the world rankings, which might be part of the reason he’s shopping for a new coach. After a short post-Olympic break that kept him away from the 2013 world championships, Park showed promise in mid-2014 at the Korean nationals in July, including a 1:45.25 in the 200 free. But at the Asian Games this past September, Park did not come through for the home crowd, failing to win a gold medal.
Calls to SwimMAC Carolina staff requesting confirmation were not immediately returned.