Jane Figueiredo has been named as the Head Coach of the new British Diving High Performance Centre in London.
Figueiredo, who is the current Head Coach of the Diving programme for the University of Houston, will take over the new centre from 15 January.
With four Olympic Games under her belt, she has a wealth of coaching experience to bring to the new centre.
Over two Olympic Games she coached Yulia Pakhalina and Vera Ilina to three Olympic medals including 3m Synchro gold at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
At the 2008 Beijing Olympics she took the new Russian pair of Pakhalina and Anastasia Pozdnyakova to silver in the 3m Synchro and the former to the same result in the individual 3m Springboard.
A former diver, Figueiredo, commented on her new role: “The opportunity to come to London is one that I just couldn’t resist. The timing was right for me to make a new move in my career and I am excited to get over and get started.
“I have been to the pool and met with GLL and British Diving and their plans blew me away. It is great that they have put so much emphasis on diving. I am going to be in a system where I can just focus on diving and the fact we all want the focus to be on diving made the opportunity all the more special.”
"I met with GLL and British Diving and their plans blew me away,"
- Jane Figueiredo
She will lead the first elite programme at one of the London Olympic venues and being part of the iconic venue is something she relished.
“I went to the pool as a spectator in 2012 to watch,” Figueiredo added. “I was lucky enough to get tickets to watch the 3m events so I knew the pool was great. I have a great pool in Houston and one of the best in the US in my opinion but an Olympic pool has a certain awe about it.
“The pool is just so inspiring and motivating and GLL and British Diving have really come together as a group and made it into a facility that will draw a lot of awesome young divers and future Olympians.
“I want to thank the University of Houston for all of the opportunities I have been given throughout my career with them. I have loved my time with the University and want to wish them the best for the future.”
National Performance Director Alexei Evangulov added: “I am excited to have someone of Jane’s pedigree leading our new High Performance Centre. She has a proven track record at Olympic Games and she will be a great addition to our coaching staff.
“I want to welcome Jane to British Diving and know that she will do a great job in creating a world leading programme at the London Aquatics Centre.”