Ian Turner, who coached Paul Palmer to an Olympic silver medal in 1996, is to leave his job at the helm of Bath University’s swimming squad to become head coach to England at Loughborough University.

The shift has been orchestrated by Bill Sweetenham, Great Britain’s performance director, who said he was “moving the chess pieces in readiness for Olympic year”. It will also be interpreted as significant at a time when Britain must start to consider possible successors to the Australian director, whose contract ends, if options are taken up, in 2006.

Two national squads will head out for five weeks of training on Australia’s Gold Coast on September 4. Sweetenham will lead a small group of talented juniors at St Hilda’s College while placing trust in Turner to lead a large party of seniors, including several Olympic medal hopes, at Southport School.

Turner is expected to take up his new role upon his return to Britain in October. Since he moved to Bath in 1997, the university’s squad has won more than 80 international medals and established dozens of national records.

Sweetenham said that Turner’s move would enable the two men to work more closely and allow the Australian to spend more time on the poolside coaching in the critical period leading up to the Olympic Games next year. It will also provide pool space and scientific suppport for non-University swimmers who would either visit the national centre of excellence on a temporary basis or join Turner’s squad as a permanent member of a group that will not be attached to the university’s team.

"It also provides another opportunity for another coach to take up the challenge at Bath," said Sweetenham, who has put great efforts into improving coach education since he arrived in Britain in late 2000. "After the Olympics I’d like Bath to become the next Loughborough, which by then will be the standard bearer."

Sweetenham told The Times: "From now until Athens, the office door will be locked. The paper work has to be put on hold. I want all coaches, scientists, all technical staff to spend at least 30 hours a week on the poolside working directly with swimmers. That includes everyone at the performance and development levels, including me."

Only those seniors who "are ready to step up to a level of work they have never known before" would be invited to attend the Gold Coast camps, said Sweetenham, who will finalise the squads during the two-week break he has allowed swimmers - their last before Athens - ahead of the new season in the autumn.