Dominique Diezi O'Brien, a two-time Olympian for Switzerland,was named assistant coach for the Yale women's swimming and divingteam in the summer of 2011.
A native of Zurich and a member of the Switzerland's Nationalteam from 1992-2004, Diezi O'Brien competed in two Olympics (1996in Atlanta and 2004 in Athens) and several World and EuropeanChampionships. She graduated from Northwestern with a degree ineconomics and international studies in 2001. During her career, sheearned multiple All-America honors and held NU school and Swissnational records in various sprint events.
Diezi O'Brien comes to Yale after five seasons with SouthernMethodist. She helped the Mustangs to four straight Conference USAChampionships, and SMU finished in the top 20 at NCAAs three timesin her tenure. While at SMU, Diezi O'Brien worked with manyinternational student-athletes who represented their countries onthe European, World and Olympic stages. In 2010, she graduated fromSMU with a Masters in Education, specializing in English as asecond language (ESL).
Diezi O'Brien has worked as a counselor for Swiss Swimming inage group development programs. She has also worked swim camps atvarious universities in the United States.
In addition to her work as a coach, Diezi O'Brien has alsoserved as a freelance translator and as an ESL teacher for adultsand children. Aside from English and German, she also speaks Frenchand Spanish.
updated July 13, 2011
