/ 1 September 1999

SWIMMERS RETURN TO SA

SOUTH Africa’s triumphant Pan Pacifics swimming team jetted into Johannesburg upbeat about their medal chances at next year’s Olympic Games. “We got eight medals now,” head coach Wayne Riddin said. “I don’t think eight is an unreasonable prediction for the Olympics, but we could even go over 10.” SA finished in the top five overall after bagging three golds, one silver and four bronzes in Sydney –the same pool where the 2000 Olympics will be held. A total of 22 South African records –including Penny Heyns’s four world records — were broken during the week-long event which attracted the world’s best swimmers from Australia, United States and Canda. Only swimmers from Europe, who recently competed at the European Championships, were not there.