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Biography
Tom Gossland is a Canadian Olympic Freestyle swimmer who represented Canada in the 2012 Olympic Games, 2013 World Championships, 2013 World Student Games and numerous World Cup and international competitions from 2009 - 13. In 2009, his relay team set a Canadian Senior National Record which still stands. In his final year at university, he won the Canadian University Sport Male Athlete of the Year award.
Gossland began swimming at age 11 with the Nanaimo White Rapids Summer Swim Club, but had prioritized other sports until the age of 17. After swimming two seasons with the Nanaimo Riptides Swim Club (year-round), he improved his technique and fitness and was offered a scholarship to the University of British Columbia. From there, Gossland continued to improve, first by adapting to training up to 60km/week, then by finding ways to make it fun and continuing to identify and address what could be improved. By 2012, only six years of dedicated swimming commitment, the pieces came together and he qualified for the Canadian Olympic Team.
Gossland has a Bachelorās degree in Kinesiology and Health Sciences from the Faculty of Education at the University of British Columbia where he specialized in biomechanics, injury management and physical education.
Gossland has been teaching swimming to all ages and abilities for over 15 years, including teaching Red Cross swim lessons, coaching BC provincial swim camps, spending one and a half years as a swimming and triathlon teacher at a private school in Denmark and starting a swim club in Rwanda, which grew to 200 members in the first year. From this background, he has developed a comprehensive approach and philosophy, resulting in a set of incrementally challenging yet fun skill progressions as an effective strategy to improve the fundamental building blocks of swimming. Gossland now connects with swim / triathlon clubs, universities, international schools, remote fishing villages, or any group or individuals around the world interested in collaborating to improve their level of swim performance.
Gossland also obtained a second Bachelorās degree in Mechatronics Engineering from the University of Southern Denmark, and spent three years designing pharmaceutical equipment and nuclear reactor control electronics.
Gossland can be contacted by email at info@tomgossland.com or instagram / facebook @tomgossland