OLYMPIC 1500m freestyle champion Grant Hackett has told of the agonising moment when he split from his coach of 20 years, Dennis Cotterell.

Hackett revealed that his brave decision to end one of swimming’s most successful partnerships was the most difficult of his career.

“My loyalty to my coach is the toughest thing I’ve had to sever out of all this,'’ Hackett said.

“For a single decision in my career, this has been by far the toughest.'’

Hackett announced last Monday that he would move from his childhood base on the Gold Coast to Melbourne in April to train under Ian Pope, who also coaches sprinters Michael Klim and Matt Welsh.

Pondering the move for the past two months, Hackett told of the telephone call and final emotional meeting with Cotterell 12 days ago.

“As soon as I spoke to ‘Popey’ to make sure I could train with him, I gave Dennis a call,'’ Hackett said.

“I told him, ‘I’d like to come around and see you and discuss something pretty serious’.

“It was last Tuesday in between training that I went around to see him.

“It was a difficult moment. Anyone that has had to make a similar decision, with the person who probably influences you the most, knows how tough it is. We spent an hour and a half together going over things. It was like a big weight had been lifted off my mind when I told him.'’

Hackett, who has trained at Cotterell’s Miami Beach base since he started swimming, said any suggestion that bad blood between the pair had forced the separation was totally incorrect.

“He’s never been negative about it. He’s only been positive and understanding about the move,'’ Hackett said.

“I’ll still talk to him regularly and go back to see him on the Gold Coast. I think we would be mad to be upset at each other after a relationship of 21 years.'’

The two-time Olympic gold medallist claimed it was his fear of failure that ultimately clinched the move.

“I made this decision to make sure I keep doing the job properly or to the best of my ability,'’ Hackett said. “It’s the sort of job where if you drop off a little bit you unfortunately drop off the medal dais.

“I’m making the move so I can improve the results. I don’t want to keep maintaining everything. I want to keep looking forward.'’

Hackett agreed his move to Melbourne just 18 months out from the Olympics was a gamble.

“Everything involves an element of risk and certainly this is no different,'’ he said. “It’s worked with my coach in Queensland and my career has obviously gone pretty well and got me to this point.

“But if you want to try to make it to that next level, sometimes you’ve got to do these things.'’