Boxall backflip: Star coach pulls out of Swim GP as rival league comes calling
High-profile coach Dean Boxall has withdrawn from next month’s inaugural Swim GP event in Melbourne, dealing a blow to Swimming Australia as he prepares to take up a role with a controversial overseas league that owes athletes millions in unpaid prize money.
In September, Swimming Australia announced that four elite coaches – Boxall, Damian Jones, Mel Marshall and Craig Jackson – would lead separate teams of 20 swimmers at the two-day teams event from November 13.
As recently as October 16, Boxall was listed as a coach for the event, which will be broadcast on the Nine Network.
With the Brisbane Games looming in 2032, Swimming Australia has been trying to generate more domestic content for the broadcast partner Nine Entertainment (the publisher of this masthead), and build interest in the sport beyond major meets such as the Olympics, world championships and national trials.
While organisers have assembled a strong field including Olympians Kaylee McKeown, Lani Pallister, Mollie O’Callaghan, Sam Short and Kyle Chalmers, one of their biggest coups was securing Boxall to lead Team Tsunami at the Swim GP.
The animated coach has become box-office television at major swimming meets since his wild, hip-thrusting celebration at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, when Ariarne Titmus stunned American great Katie Ledecky to win gold in the 400m freestyle.
Boxall was filmed yelling, pumping his fists and grabbing a railing in the stands in one of the Games’ most memorable moments.
This passion has made him almost as recognisable as some of the Olympic champions he coaches.
But in recent days, Boxall has had a change of heart.
The coach informed Swimming Australia he no longer wants to be involved in Swim GP, which is designed to “pit the country’s best swimmers against each other” in a teams format.
Boxall confirmed to this masthead that he had pulled out of Swim GP but did not elaborate on why.
Adding to the intrigue is Boxall’s appointment as one of four coaches of the Commonwealth Team at the International Swimming League’s (ISL) All-Star Match in London on December 19.
Boxall, who guided Titmus to back-to-back Olympic 400m freestyle gold medals and O’Callaghan to 200m freestyle gold in Paris, will join Scotland’s Ben Higson, Canada’s Byron MacDonald and South Africa’s Rocco Meiring.
The Commonwealth Team will take on squads representing the United States, Europe and the rest of the world, with organisers promising the largest prize pool ever offered for one night of competitive swimming.
But the ISL’s return has been overshadowed by a multimillion-dollar debt to swimmers after the league failed to pay more than 300 athletes approximately $US7 million ($10 million) in prize money from its 2021 season.
In July, the league announced a repayment plan involving four annual instalments, with the first due by the end of this year.
The ISL is offering greater financial incentives than Swimming Australia does for Swim GP and Boxall, one of the world’s most sought-after coaches, knows his value.
He already spends much of the year away from home at training camps and international events, a demanding schedule that may have influenced his decision to withdraw from Melbourne.
However, his late decision has raised questions about whether Australia’s top coaches are being offered sufficient incentives to support an event Swimming Australia hopes will become a permanent fixture on the domestic calendar ahead of Brisbane 2032.
Boxall, who also runs private overseas training camps and makes paid speaking appearances, has built a reputation for his fierce loyalty to his athletes and infectious enthusiasm on pool deck.
But for an event Swimming Australia hopes will help grow the sport’s profile and commercial appeal, losing its biggest coaching drawcard before a race has been swum is not ideal.
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