In the wake of their best swimming medal haul since the 1956 Olympics, which were held on home turf, Australia's head coach Leigh Nugent has decided to step down to resume his former position as national youth coach.

Prior to assuming the head coaching position in December of 2003, Nugent spent three years heading Australia's youth development. Of his decision to return to youth development after spearheading the best Olympic performance in over 40 years, Nugent explained to Australia's Herald Sun newspaper, "I felt that I did have a lot of unfinished business in the youth area. I came into it with an eight-year plan and I had only half done that. Some of that was reflected in how our women performed at the Olympics and there are some really good developing males and I felt I wanted to complete that job."