Thank God the first week of the La Fédération Internationale de Na-tation (Fina) World Swimming Championships in Barcelona is over. There will be no more twisty, twirly, pointy-toed, namby-pamby falling off boards and frolicking in the water.
From now on it is just hard-core, foam-generating, wake-riding, tumble-turning, propeller-driven stuff — the kind of swimming that takes you to the edge of your seat, not to the fridge for another cold one.
And for those South African natation fans who are expecting our swimmers to bring home the gold, think again — we will be lucky if we get a single bronze medal, never mind one of the much-coveted gold variety.
On their last World Championships outing in Fukuoka, Japan, in 2001, only Roland Schoeman came back with a bronze medal in the 50m freestyle — not exactly awe-inspiring stuff.
There has been a complete turn-around in expectations from the country’s top swimmers.
‘In the past we relied heavily on the women to bring back the medals,†says Sydney Olympics Games manager and top Pietermaritzburg-based coach Wayne Ridden. Now the women are rebuilding since the retirement of Penny [Heyns].
‘It is now up to the guys to pull the wagon through the drift, we aren’t expecting great things from the women for the immediate future.
‘The [16-person] team can, in reality, only look towards the likes of deaf 200m breaststroker Terence Parkin and Pretoria-based backstroker Gerhard Zandberg; and the sprint duo training out of Tucson, Arizona, Ryk Neethling and Schoeman, for medals. Parkin is on form at the moment.
‘In the Mare Nostum earlier this year in Spain and France he made the finals in the breaststroke and dead-heated in the 400m individual medley for first place.
‘He is only ranked 19th in the 200m breaststroke, due mainly to the fact that he has been preparing for the world championships and hasn’t raced many of the ranking events. But watch him next week, he is a seasoned campaigner,†says Ridden.
That is the best that we can hope for from our two top guns, although there is the 4x100m freestyle relay team that has an amazing amount of potential. If they all swim to their true potential, they can squeeze into the medals. Anything better than a bronze would be a bonus.
‘If a swimmer’s performance at the world championships was based on ranking, Schoeman would be our ‘top dog’. He comes in with a second ranking in the 50m butterfly, followed by Zandberg, who is ranked fifth for the 50m backstroke.
‘But don’t read too much into the rankings, there is only a difference of 0,36 seconds between one and nine in the 50m freestyle, where Ryk and Roland could feature. One small mistake and you are out of the finals,†says Ridden.
It is no secret that the real swimming action is either in Europe or on the United States college circuit. The quieter swimming backwaters of South Africa have meant that several of the country’s finest are plying their trade on the highly competitive US circuit.
Lyndon Ferns, who hails from the most unlikely place one could expect a world-class swimmer to come from, Pietersburg, trains in Tucson, Arizona. He shares a training camp with fellow relay teammate Darian Townsend.
The other two slots on the relay team are occupied by Ryk Neethling, who will anchor the squad, and Schoeman.
‘It would be fantastic if we get a bronze from this relay squad, although it is a tough task, because guys like Ferns and Townsend are new at this level.
‘It would be expecting a lot from them to swim above their best but, if they can both swim near 50 seconds, it can be done. Even if we come back with a fourth place it will be great preparation for next year’s Athens Olympics,†says Ridden.
‘The same that happened to Heyns in the 2000 Sydney Olympics can happen again: the country expected so much from her after her gold medal-winning performance in the Atlanta Olympics that she worked too hard and the rest is history,†Ridden laments.
Swimming SA has made a brave move in selecting a band of inexpe-rienced swimmers who will be ‘blooded†at the highest level with a view to the 2005 World Champ-ionships and the 2008 Olympic Games. At the tender age of 15, Johannesburg-based Lauren Roets will take to the water for the 50m and 100m freestyle.
Grant Gallant (50/100m breaststroke) and Eugene Botes (50/100m butterfly) are all new caps at this level and they will do well to simply get a look-in at one of their nom-inated finals.