Anastasia Goutseva returns to Singapore as national artistic swimming performance director
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National artistic swimming team performance director, Anastasia Goutseva, at a training session in Our Tampines Hub on Oct 4.
ST PHOTO: ARIFFIN JAMAR
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SINGAPORE – In 2021, Anastasia Goutseva abruptly left her post
Three years later, the 49-year-old Belarusian is back to attend to unfinished business as the national team’s performance director.
Goutseva, who began her four-year deal on Oct 1, said: “I am very excited to be back. I believe in finishing the job I have started.
“When I came to Singapore three years ago, I had a vision, but due to personal reasons, I had to return to Greece. Now, coming back is an opportunity to complete my project. Every team has potential, and I am confident that together, we can achieve great things.”
In her previous stint, she guided Debbie Soh and Miya Yong to sixth place in the women’s duet technical at the Canada leg of the Artistic Swimming World Series in 2021. At the Olympic qualification tournament that year, the duo helped Singapore finish 14th out of 23 countries, missing out on one of the eight available Tokyo 2020 berths.
Goutseva moved on to coach Greece, where she led Evangelia Platanioti to solo technical gold and solo free silver at the 2024 World Aquatics Championships, and Zoi Karangelou to a solo free gold at the 2024 world junior championships. She also helped Greece to sixth place in the duet free event at the Paris Olympics.
Even as she works towards extending Singapore’s artistic swimming dominance in South-east Asia, breakthroughs at the continental level – the Republic finished fifth in the duet and team events at the Asian Games in 2023 – and an Olympic debut, Goutseva also wants to revamp the current training structure and foster a passionate and competitive environment.
Understanding the unique challenges in balancing education and sports in Singapore, she is committed to finding an approach that works best for the athletes, as she wants to focus on targeted scheduling for high-performance athletes and long-term development to raise the team’s world rankings.
She also aims to build strong relationships with local clubs, so that “every expert contributes effectively” to create a sustainable talent pipeline, promote artistic swimming at the grassroots level and ensure a solid foundation for future national team success.
Goutseva will reunite with national coach Miho Yoshida, with whom she had previously worked with as assistant coaches for Canada from 2013 to 2016.
Ms Anastasia Goutseva (left) will reunite with national coach Miho Yoshida (right).
ST PHOTO: ARIFFIN JAMAR
Looking forward to the partnership, the 51-year-old Japanese said: “We had great synergy during our time with the Canadian national team, achieving great results together.
“We have worked well as a team and kept a strong friendship over the years. With our combined experiences, I am confident we can achieve even bigger things for Singapore.”
Singapore Aquatics vice-president for artistic swimming Tay Chin Joo said: “We are thrilled with Anastasia’s return. Her experience and track record speak for themselves, and we are confident that under her leadership, the team will reach new heights.
“We look forward to her guiding our athletes towards greater success on the international stage.”
