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The University of Toronto now has a high-performance swimming centre to train Canada’s best competitive swimmers.

The University of Toronto (U of T) has opened a new high-performance swimming centre, headed by Australian swim coach, John Rodgers.

Designed to provide a better training environment for Canada's best competitive swimmers, the centre was made possible through a partnership between Swimming Canada, Swim Ontario, the Canadian Sport Centre Ontario (CSCO) and U of T.

Over the course of his career, Rodgers, who served as head coach of a Brisbane, Australia swim club since 1999, has won eight Olympic medals, 17 Commonwealth Games medals and one World Championship medal.

Along with centres in Montreal and Vancouver, the U of T training facility is considered essential to the success of high-performance swimming in Canada. It is intended to support Swimming Canada's 2012 strategy to give the country's top athletes a competitive edge in worldwide aquatic events.

"The addition of a world-class coach to the Canadian swimming scene is huge," says Pierre Lafontaine, chief executive officer of Swimming Canada. "Coaches of John's calibre infuse the training environment with a new level of intensity, stimulating athletes to perform like never before. Under John's leadership, this new swimming centre will also take university sport to new heights, which is crucial to the success of high-performance swimming in Canada."