Verhaeren is due to officially start in his new role at the beginning of January 2014, ahead of the BHP Billiton Aquatic Super Series before taking the Australian swim team to Glasgow for the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Bertrand claimed the appointment of Verhaeren is another step in enhancing a "world's best'" approach for the sport.

"To become the best in the world requires four key links in a chain," he said.

"World-class administration of the sport, world class technology, world class athletes - both as individuals and as a team - and world class coaching.

"High performance teams require strong cultural values of trust, integrity, transparency of communication, respect for others and having fun.

"Jacco lives all of these values.

"To be world best, we must search the world for the very best people and we believe we have done this in appointing Jacco Verhaeren as our new national head coach, to work with our existing world class athletes and coaches."

Jacco Verhaeren coached Dutch swimmer Ranomi Kromowidjojo to gold in the 50m and 100m Freestyle in London 2012



Verhaeren is currently technical director of the Dutch Swimming Federation having coached seven Olympic medallists throughout his career.

These include Pieter van den Hoogenband to two gold medals in the 2000 Sydney Olympics and another at Athens 2004.

At London 2012 he coached Ranomi Kromowidjojo to gold in the 50 and 100 metres freestyle and the Dutch women to silver in the 4x100m freestyle relay, behind Australia, while Kromowidjojo went on to win gold in the 50m freestyle at this year's World Championships in Barcelona.

Having coached at the last five Olympics and director of Dutch Swimming for the past seven years, Verhaeren claimed the chance to work in Australia and with some of the best athletes and coaches in the world was too good to pass up.

That despite the fact he is taking over following Australia's disappointing campaign at London 2012, which was marked by ill-discipline and mismanagement.

The team won a total of 10 medals, but only one of them was gold, their worst performance since Barcelona 1992. 

But they bounced back at this year's World Aquatics Championships in Barcelona where the swimmers finished third overall, claiming 13 medals, three gold and 10 silver. 

Australia's Christian Sprenger celebrates winning the 100m breaststroke at this year's World Championships in Barcelona

"Australian swimming is extremely well respected on the international stage and to have the chance to work with the athletes and coaches in this role is humbling," said Verhaeren.

"In the Netherlands we are a small swimming nation that has worked hard technically to maximise every opportunity.

"We've had some success working on those technical elements and I hope to bring that focus and drive to this new role in Australia.

"To have the competitive edge in international swimming you have to combine the physical, psychological and technical components of our sport, and I'm looking forward to challenging and inspiring the athletes and the coaches to achieve their goals."

Having watched Verhaeren's progression from a pool deck coach to technical director at the Dutch Swimming Federation, Scott claimed his technical aspects and focus as a real win for the sport in Australia.

"Technically the Dutch have been one of the stronger nations in world swimming for some time now, with their starts, turns and particularly their relay change overs, and Jacco has played a big role in that," said Scott.

"To be world-class we need to be world class in every element of the sport, and we know that there are technical areas that we can work on, and improve, to add to the physical strengths and skills that we already possess.

"I'd like to thank Michael Bohl and Rohan Taylor for their work in coaching the women's and men's teams in Barcelona this year and I'm looking forward to working with Jacco for next year's Commonwealth Games and Pan Pacs on the Gold Coast, and of course leading into Rio [2016]."

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