Yoav Brook and Gal Nevo attack: "There is rot in the swimming association, there is no vision or work plan" | Israel Hayom

The Swimmers' Struggle Headquarters, headed by former athletes Yoav Brook and Gal Nevo, held a special press conference today (Monday) in which they revealed their demands from the Swimming Association, the Olympic Committee and the Ministry of Sports. The person targeted at that Zoom gathering was former chairman Noam Zvi, who ended his career in the union in 2015, but the campaign headquarters claims is still pulling the strings.

Nevo said: "We haven't been swimming for a few years, but we have a long history with three Olympics, when what started it, from people in positions of trust or swimmers, when one of the diseases of the association is the involvement of Noam Zvi, who has been destroying the association for several years and what has been happening since then, is rot in the swimming association and we can't stand by and want to be the voice of those who can't speak. I understand from the coaches that there is no vision, no work plan, no professional plans. I want to see a way to move swimming forward, the dealings and manipulations that existed like 30 years ago, existed all the time except for a short break and I could no longer remain silent."

Brooke: "You know Noam's involvement, he walks around freely and you see it in everything in swimming, it's enough to see the coaches' letter, which is a very big break and no one in swimming will say anything to the contrary, about the fracture swimming is in and someone has to take responsibility – whoever heads it, the chairman. Noam brought the World Youth Championship, there is no budget and this will put the union in a huge deficit. From the staff of the association we hear about threats, an athlete like Meron Liberty who made an Olympic criterion and then discovers that the competition was not registered properly. We are a year before the Olympics and the preparations cannot be affected, what is not touched, we see conflicts of interest, athletes who are hurt, athletes who do not accept the conditions, we are not fighting for ourselves, but for the athletes. The professional program should be clean without preferences for one association or another, the camping should stop and be made up of people who love swimming, we will not let go until this industry is cleaned, the chairman of the existing association (Miki Halika – A.A.) is Noam's marionette."

Halika, Photo: Oren Aharoni

The Israel Swimming Association said: "This past week, with the number of medals and Israeli records broken for adults and youth in international competitions, this is proof that the swimming association's professional program is working properly. The program works in full cooperation with the Olympic Committee and the Elite Sports Department, and everything is done in accordance with the recommendations of super advisor Dave Marsh. The fact that our swimmers are training with a world record holder like Siobhan Haughey has contributed to their recent achievements. No Israeli swimmer has ever trained in his training program with world records and in recent months it has been happening, along with Israel's mission coach, Tom Rushton, who was voted European Coach of the Year last year. The main role of board member Noam Zvi at the Israel Swimming Association is the management of the artistic swimming industry, which has recently achieved tremendous achievements on a global level. The sport has received many compliments from the World Swimming Association as the most improved sport in the world among all the swimming associations and this is a huge pride for the Israel Swimming Association.

Regarding the World Youth Championships: Only today the management of the association approved the purchase of electronic equipment for the watch, for which only thanks to the World Championship will it be possible to find a budget source. The cost of the purchase is close to a million shekels, which is not from the union's budget, and only thanks to this championship is it possible to receive a budget source. Anyone who claims that the championship will be a deficit doesn't know what he's doing and it's clear that he's trying to thwart the success of the championship." "The repetition of the empty claims regarding Meron Heruti will not change the facts: the union and the professional manager of the team acted properly, the recognition of the competition was revoked by the World Association and notice of this was given to Maccabi Haifa before the competition."

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Noam Zvi chose not to comment and was satisfied with the union's response.

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