'Right time' for Peaty coach to move to Australia

Decorated swimming coach Mel Marshall, who has worked with Olympic champion Adam Peaty for almost two decades, says she is relocating to Australia to further her career as she bemoans a lack of "empowerment" in British sport.

The 42-year-old is leaving her post as Aquatics GB lead coach at its Loughborough Performance Centre after the Paris Olympic Games.

She says her move would not stop her from working with breaststroke world-record holder Peaty - who has won three Olympic gold, eight World Championship titles, 17 European crowns and four golds at the Commonwealth Games in the 17 years under her tutelage - if he chooses to swim on after the upcoming Games.

"You always come to a part in your life when you will want change and you want development and you will want to move in a different direction, and this opportunity came when I was looking for that," Marshall told BBC East Midlands Today.

"There were opportunities and there were offers, and there was a feeling of desire for the skillset I have.

"It's the right time in my life, it's a good adventure to take and those things matched with what I want to do in the next stage of my career."

Marshall has been involved in British swimming as a competitor and coach for almost three decades.

The two-time Olympian, who collected five silver and two bronze medals at the Commonwealth Games, has gone on to become one of Britain's leading female coaches.

She has claimed the country's top swimming coach award a number of times, was named the International Swim Coach of the Year in 2014 and in 2019 was voted High Performance Coach of the Year at the UK Coaching Awards.

When asked if she felt there was enough support for female coaches in the UK, however, Marshall said: "No. No, definitely not."

She added that any lack of support is something all coaches would feel.

"It's not just about men and women, it's about coaching in general," she said.

"We have to do way more to empower people that are educated, that are leading because they have the experience and expertise."

Mel Marshall has previously led training camps in Australia

Marshall's impending departure comes as UK Sport announced the number of women coaching Olympic and Paralympic sports in the UK has nearly doubled since the Covid-postponed games held in Tokyo in 2021.

Marshall, who was part of UK Sport's elite coaching programme alongside former England men's football manager Gareth Southgate, says social media has had an increasing impact on coaches.

"You are coming up against this wave of social media and wave of people who have very clear opinions on what is going on, but none of the inside information or real understanding of what is going on," she said.

"In terms of that space, we as a nation must do better because you have great people who want to come to the surface that are frightened to because someone who dare not will sabotage them.

"I think we have to work hard on that, and that is a really important part of our culture."