When Dave Johnson was told he would be part of Swimming Canada’s coaching staff at this month’s Tokyo Olympics he called home to give his family the news.
“They were more than happy,” said Johnson, head coach of the Cascade Swim Club in Calgary. “They said great, you’re not going to be around for a while.”
The Tokyo Games will be Johnson’s ninth Olympics.
His first Olympic experience was as a staff coach at the 1976 Montreal Games. Johnson was named men’s head coach for the boycotted 1980 Games and was women’s head coach for the 1984 Los Angeles Games. From 1988 to 2004 he was Swimming Canada’s Olympic head coach.
Johnson was relieved of the national team head coach role in 2004 after Canada’s 20-member team failed to win a medal at the Athens Olympics.
Over the years Johnson wondered if he would get another chance to coach at an Olympics.
“I was thrilled,” he said about being returning to the Games after a 17-year absence. “I didn’t really know if I would get on the staff. It caught me a little bit off guard.
“I had been a few times but everyone is special.”
Johnson has played a role in the development of three swimmers on the Olympic team. He currently coaches backstroker Cole Pratt, 18, at the Cascade Club. In the past he’s coached Yuri Kisil and Rebecca Smith, who both currently train at the High Performance Centre _ Ontario.
Seeing the three punch their ticket to Tokyo was special.
“I wanted to do what we did in Cascade, which was build up the program from the ground up and get swimmers back up to an international level inside the context of our program,” he said.
These Games will have a different dynamic for Johnson. Instead of being the person in charge, he’s looking forward to just being one of the coaches.
“You have sort of a different collegial relationship with the coaching staff when you are in the lead role,” he said. “By definition, those hard decisions need to get made and a certain amount of social distance is required in order to operate effectively in that role.
“I’ve been there, and I’ve done that. I understand all the subtleties of what’s required. I think it makes me appreciate more how hard it is to pull a team like Team Canada together and get the results that we’ve been getting.”
Johnson likes the idea of being able to concentrate more on coaching without the distractions of the head coaching duties.
“All of those experiences sort of led me down the path of thinking that I’m in a better place coaching right now than I was in the previous times that I’ve gone to the Olympics as a coach,” he said.
“When you’re dealing with that, it takes you away from your swimmers. I like doing this now and I wouldn’t want to do the other job.”
Along with his twin brother Tom, Johnson has a long history in Canadian swimming.
Tom Johnson tells the story about how legendary coach George Gate hired Dave Johnson as a coach at the Pointe-Claire Club.
It was the fall of 1972 and, with their swimmer careers over, the brothers were hanging around the pool. They agreed when Gate asked if they wanted to go to his house for a beer.
While talking, Gate asked if ether were interested in coaching. Dave said sure, because he needed a job.
“Good, practice starts in 20 minutes,” Gate said.
Tom Johnson attended graduate school at the University of Ottawa, but Dave eventually convinced him to help coach at Point-Claire. The brothers placed swimmers on the 1974 Commonwealth Games team that competed in Christchurch, New Zealand. That’s where they caught the attention of national team coaches Deryk Snelling and Don Talbot.
Dave Johnson would also coach at Edmonton’s Keyano Club before joining Cascade.
The 70-year-old has never regretted his decision to become a coach.
“I love what I’m doing every day,” he said. “It’s almost like not work. I really feel very fortunate that I have something to do that is more like a passion as opposed to a vocation.
“My mindset is that as long as I’m going to be involved, I’m going to try and operate at the absolute highest level that my swimmers and the program can. Hopefully we can do something in terms of results not just here, but also going forward.”
For Johnson, the reward for a coach isn’t judged just by a swimmer’s success in the pool.
“It’s seeing them appreciate the process that they’ve gone through and recognize it’s not just a moment in time, but it’s actually a journey they’re on,” he said. “They can take some of the lessons they’re going to learn in this very high pressure situation and apply it beyond sport into their lives later.
“I’ve been fortunate enough to hang around long enough that I have a lot of history with a lot of swimmers.”
That point was driven home earlier this year when Johnson was contacted by Cameron Henning, who he had coached to a bronze medal in the 200-metre backstroke at the 1984 Games.
Henning called Johnson to talk about Pratt and his chances for a medal.
“When swimmers come back after all that time, and you’ve coached them through the good and the bad and the ugly, and they still want to connect with you, I think that’s probably the biggest sense of appreciate and gratification,” he said.