SYDNEY, Oct. 17 (Xinhua) -- Dutchman Jacco Verhaeren was named as Australia's new swimming team head coach on Thursday.

The 44-year-old Verhaeren replaces Leigh Nugent who quit the post in March after poor results in London Olympics in 2012.

Verhaeren stepped down as Dutch team's technical director this week. He coached at the last five Olympics and was best known for guiding Dutch greats Pieter van den Hoogenband and Inge de Bruijn to Olympic success at the Sydney and Athens Games.

Australian swimming team recorded its worst results in 20 years with one gold medal, six silver and three bronze. It is the first time Australian swimmers failed to collect an individual gold medal since the 1976 Montreal Olympics. Enditem