Daniel Kowalski loves the convenience Docklands

By Bethany Williams

Former Olympic swimmer, Daniel Kowalski, has been working in Docklands since January and loves the convenience of the location.

“It’s great that you can find basically everything here,” he said.

Daniel, 36, is the general manager of the Australian Swimmers Association (ASA) and also works for Professional Footballers Australia (PFA).  Both organisations are located in Bourke St, Victoria Harbour.

This is the perfect spot for Daniel, especially with the variety of cafes to choose from. “I love the coffee at the Gauge next door,” he said.

In both of Daniel’s roles he is responsible for overseeing the welfare and wellbeing of elite athletes. “This is something I am very passionate about,” Daniel said.

After his own elite swimming career it makes sense that Daniel would want to support and guide Australia’s new generation of athletes.

Daniel made it onto his first national swimming team in 1993. His swimming career saw him win gold, silver and bronze medals at the Olympics, Commonwealth Games and world championships.

After retiring in 2002, Daniel went on to work in a variety of roles.

He worked in athlete management for Grand Slam International and was a member of the organising committee for the 2007 World Swimming Championships in Melbourne.

He was also assistant swimming coach for Wisconsin-Madison University in America for a year and has worked in athlete welfare for the Victorian Institute of Sport.

However, moving into two new roles in Docklands is not the only interesting thing to have happened to Daniel this year.

He is also the subject of a portrait by Peter Bloomfield that was recently shown at the Hidden Faces of the Archibald exhibition at the Hilton, South Wharf.

This exhibition is exclusively for Victorian artists who entered the Archibald exhibition.

Daniel described the portrait as having an “uncanny resemblance”. “I was blown away the first time I saw it and every time I’ve seen it since I have to do a double-take,” he said.