From StateofSwimming.com
Olympic gold-medal-winning coach Dave McNulty has been awarded MBE (Member of the British Empire) in the King’s Birthday Honours List (2024).
McNulty is honoured for services to swimming, one month before his fourth Olympic Games as Head Coach of the Aquatics GB Performance Centre Bath. He celebrated six medals from three of his swimmers at the Tokyo2020ne Olympic Games when Great Britain lapped up its biggest medal haul in the pool in Games history.
That haul included McNulty’s charges: an historic 200m freestyle title for Tom Dean (in an historic 1-2 punch for Britain, Duncan Scott a fraction away); gold for Dean and James Guy in the 4x200m freestyle (alongside Scott, Matt Richards and Calum Jarvis); a victorious, world-record mixed 4x100m Medley Relay that featured Guy (alongside Kathleen Dawson, Adam Peaty and Anna Hopkin), and an Olympic gold for Freya Anderson, who raced the heats of the same mixed medley relay.
McNulty – who had previously coached swimmers to Olympic medals at London 2012 and Rio 2016 from the Bath Performance Centre – went on to become Team GB’s overall Coach of the Year later in 2021, and after more success for his swimmers at world and European level in the past two years, he is now gearing up for another Games on the Team GB coaching staff in Paris, his sixth in total.
Speaking through Aquatics GB, McNulty said:
“During my time as Head Coach of the Aquatics GB Performance Centre in Bath, we’ve done three Olympics, 2012, 2016 and 2021, and over that time, my swimmers have won 11 Olympic medals and I’ve been absolutely over the moon. There was one in 2012, four in 2016 and six medals in 2021, and then a big highlight afterwards of winning the Team GB Coach of the Year in 2021, that absolutely blew me away. Normally it’s about making the swimmers’ dreams come true, as a coach, and this is time for me to reflect on what I’ve done personally. I’m over the moon with the Olympic record in that time I’ve been here at the Aquatics GB Bath Performance Centre, and this award means so much. Thank you to everyone who has been a part of that journey along the way – all the great athletes, all the great staff, and I thank Aquatics GB as well. I’m absolutely over the moon with this recognition.”
