Mike’s Bio

Thompson is a veteran of the Rio 2016 Paralympics, where he coached Jean-Michel Lavallière, Isaac Bouckley and Benoît Huot, who captured the last of his 20 career medals at the Games, bronze in the 400-m freestyle S10. He was also part of the Canadian staff at the 2015 Parapan Am Games in Toronto and at two World Para Swimming Championships, including London 2019, where Thompson coached world record holder Aurélie Rivard (2 gold-1 silver-2 bronze), Tess Routliffe (0-1-2) and James Leroux (0-1-0) combined for nine medals.

Thompson was named the first head coach of Swimming Canada’s Para-swimming Intensive Training Program – Quebec in 2015, and remained at the helm when the Montreal-based program was upgraded to a full High Performance Training Centre in 2017.

At the World Para Swimming Championships in London, in September, his six HPC pupils combined for eight podium finishes and three Canadian records, including two gold medals by Aurélie Rivard, named country’s female Para Swimmer of the Year for a record-tying fourth time.

He was Swimming Canada’s Coach of the Year – Paralympic Program in 2019.

Thompson worked with two-time Paralympic gold medallist Adam Purdy in a previous role at Wilfrid Laurier University. He served on the coaching staff at the 2015 IPC Swimming World Championships in Glasgow. His swimmer, Alec Elliot, made five finals in Glasgow, most among men on the team.

Thompson coached five years as head coach for the Halton Hills Blue Fins. He also spent two years at the Oakville Aquatic Club and was selected to the Ontario High Performance Sport Initiative Coach Accelerator Program.