By Gary Anderson

September 23 - Rob Greenwood will take up his new head coach role with British Para-Seimming in OctoberBritish Swimming has announced that Rob Greenwood has been appointed as the new head coach of British Para-Swimming with the former Olympic swimmer taking up his new role in October.

The move comes as part of British Swimming's revamp of the Paralympic programme in the build-up to Rio 2016 and follows on from the appointment of former British Cycling Paralympic lead coach Chris Furber as British Swimming's National Performance Director of Para-Swimming in March.

Greenwood, who moved into coaching in 2004 as head age-group coach for the Gallica Performance Squad in Lancashire, will be based in Manchester and will work closely with Furber, who oversaw medal table-topping performances for the British Paralympic cycling squads at both Beijing 2008 and London 2012.

"I am really excited about taking on the challenge of leading a national team," Greenwood said.

"This is a fantastic opportunity for me to join one of the biggest and most successful teams within Paralympic history and one that I could not resist."

In 2008, Greenwood moved to the British Gas Intensive Training Centre (ITC) in Stirling, Scotland where he became interim head coach and has placed athletes on national teams for every major international championships since.

"With everything I have learnt from my time at Stirling and as part of the UK Sport Elite Coaching Apprenticeship Programme I think I have the skill set to work alongside Chris (Furber) to help the team continue to be a success and remain as the country's biggest Paralympic sport," said the man from Preston.

"For swimming at the Games there are a huge number of medal opportunities and I am looking forward to the challenge of building on the back of London's success as we head towards Rio.

"My focus and attention will be on each day between now and Rio, ensuring our athletes, support staff and coaches are the best prepared that they can be.

"I would like to thank British Swimming and UK Sport for the opportunities that I have been given to develop myself.

"I also want to thank Scottish Swimming, sportscotland and Stirling University for their support and without them and the athletes at the centre I wouldn't be able to take this step up to this role."

Amy Marren won six medals at the 2013 IPC Swimming World Championships in Montreal including four goldsAmy Marren won six medals at the 2013 IPC Swimming World Championships in Montreal including four golds

























At London 2012, British swimmers won a total of 39 medals in the Paralympics to place seventh on the overall medal table, down three places and two medals on Beijing 2008.

At this year's International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Swimming World Championships in Montreal, Britain secured 55 medals in total, finishing third in the overall standings.

Furber believes that with Greenwood in place, Britain can build on its performances at recent international championships and be challenging at the top of the medal table in Rio.

"We're really excited about the appointment," he said.

"Rob has shown himself to be a world class coach in Stirling and will add a lot to the programme.

"It's great that British Para-Swimming can attract a coach of Rob's pedigree to this position and I look forward to working closely with him.

"This important head coach role will provide the programme with a technical lead while also having a strong presence on the pool deck.

"He has the perfect combination of skills and knowledge required to continue to move the programme forward.

"Rob will assist in the development of coaches across Britain and will help to shape the strategy through to Rio.

"And while at international events I'm confident he will lead the British Gas GBR (Great Britain) Para-Swimming team to continued success."

Prior to Rio in 2016, the squad will be competing at next year's IPC European Swimming Championships at a venue yet to be confirmed, while the 2015 IPC World Swimming Championships take place in Glasgow.

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