An experienced high performance coach, McKeon has worked for more than 30 years across swimming and life saving in Australia following a competitive career in the pool, which took in Olympic Games at Moscow 1980 and Los Angeles 1984, as well as appearances at the 1978 and 1982 Commonwealth Games.

His first venture into coaching saw him become a scholarship coach at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) in Canberra, before helping to set up the McKeon Swim School in Wollongong where he still acts as director and head coach.

Until recently, McKeon was the Australian Swimming Coaches & Teachers Association (ASCTA) President and has been a long-standing board member for both ASCTA and Swimming Australia since the late 1990s.

"Ron's insight into the daily training and competition environment will be of great value when developing our open water programme to nurture our athletes to achieve notable successes in the 10 kilometre [event] at the Olympic Games and beyond," said Swimming Australia's director of high performance Michael Scott.

"With Ron's knowledge of elite performance and his credibility within Australian swimming, he's the ideal person to take the sport to the next level."

Jarrod Poort has transferred from the pool to open water with great success under the watchful eye of Ron McKeon ©AFP/Getty Images



McKeon's son and daughter, David and Emma, represented Australia at the International Swimming Federation (FINA) World Championships last year, where another of his protégés, Jarrod Poort, finished fourth and fifth in the five kilometres team and individual events in Barcelona.

Earlier this year, Poort claimed his second successive national 5km title while also adding the 10km crown after switching from the pool to open water following London 2012.

"I'm really excited by this opportunity, and looking forward to working with Michael Scott and the Swimming Australia high performance team to further develop the open water programme," said McKeon.

"You only have to look at the huge numbers of people involved in ocean swimming over the summer, and our strong surf lifesaving culture, to realise that open water swimming is in our DNA and an event we can really excel in.

"I'm looking forward to working with the coaches and athletes to continue to do just that."

McKeon will officially start his new role on March 17 when he will begin preparations for the Pan Pacific Championships due to take place on the Gold Coast in August.

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