2015 World Champion Ning Zetao has reportedly made a move to Brisbane to train at the Parkinson Aquatic Centre under head coach Matt Brown. Zetao, who is the reigning World Champion in the 100 freestyle and a member of the 2016 Chinese Olympic Team, will be joined by fellow Chinese Olympians Fu Yuanhui and Xu Jiayu, both of whom were medalists at the Rio Olympics.
Brown returned to Brisbane in April after two years coaching in Melbourne, and has been a fixture in Australian swimming for more than a decade. Over the years, Brown worked with noted Australian Olympians Emily Seebohm and Eamn Sullivan, coaching Seebohm for 12 years during his previous time in Brisbane.
While the Chinese contingent will split their time between China and Brisbane, they will be training with Brown for the six weeks leading up to the FINA World Championships this summer in Budapest, Hungary. In a story in The Courier Mail, Brown stated that exposing local swimmers to the training environment of his growing team will be a huge benefit as he continues to develop local talent. The Parkinson Aquatic Centre is a brand new facility in Brisbane that has a teaching pool, an indoor pool, weight lifting facility, and 8-lane outdoor long course pool.
While he is the reigning World Champion from 2015, Zetao is not currently a member of the preliminary Chinese World Championships roster. This is likely due to several rules violations that got him kicked off the Chinese National Team last year, but there is still a chance he could be added to the team in the coming weeks.
Why do we have coach other countries athletes????