the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, in which they failed to medal and their best finish was sixth place, head coach Dave Johnson was fired. The COC offered Baumann the CEO or head coaching position of Swimming Canada (Karen Spierkel had resigned as CEO on 3 May 2003 after the controversy surrounding Jennifer Carroll waving a Quebec flag on the podium during the 2002 Commonwealth Games) but he turned both down, saying that he would remain with the Queensland Academy. Several commentators panned Baumann as hypocritical as he was publicly critical of the Canadian swim program for several years from 2000 to 2004, right up to the Athens Olympics . In response, Baumann toned down his criticism. 2006-2012: Head of Canada's Summer Olympic Program On 27 September 2006, the Canadian Olympic Committee announced that Baumann was hired to take over Canada's Road to Excellence initiative beginning in January 2007. Canada had achieved mediocre results at the 2004 Athens Olympics with a tally of only 12 medals in all events, which resulted in an overall 21st place national showing. These poor results prompted much criticism from Canadians. At that time, Baumann announced a goal for Team Canada: a top 16 finish in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and a top 12 finish at the 2012 London Games. In the Beijing event, for the first time Canadian athletes were paid for medals earned. Gold medalists earned $20,000; silver medalists were paid $15,000; and bronze medalists $10,000. A total of $515,000 from the Athlete Excellence Fund was given to the medal winning athletes. At the Beijing Olympiad, Canada wound up finishing 19th in gold medals and 14th in total medals, and Baumann's methods were vindicated. In the 2012 London Olympic Games with the initiation of its "Own the Podium" programme, Canada finished 13th in total medals, thus improving on its performance in Beijing while falling somewhat short of its self-declared goal of 12th position. It finished the event with 18 medals: one gold, five silver and 12 bronze. 2012-2017: Head of High Performance Sport New Zealand On 15 January 2012, High Performance Sport New Zealand announced the appointment of Baumann to the role of Chief Executive, effective 31 January 2012. Baumann resigned in June 2017 due to the desire to move back to Australia to be closer to his children and extended family. Whilst he was in this position at the 2016 Rio Olympics,