Ryk Neethling and Roland Schoeman were the sensations at the Telkom SA swimming championships on a night of high passion when amputee Natalie du Toit tried to qualify in the 800m freestyle for the Athens Olympics.
Neethling broke his Africa 200m freestyle record for the second time at the championships when he powered to victory in the final in one minute and 47,37 seconds at Durban’s Kings Park pool on Sunday night.
Schoeman, who qualified for the Athens Olympics in the 50m freestyle on Saturday, broke the South African 50m butterfly record with 52,73 seconds in winning his semifinal.
Neethling’s time beat his 1:47,78 in the semis on Saturday and chalked him up as one of three Olympic qualifiers so far at the championships, which end on Wednesday.
”I was very happy with that,” he said after beating Switzerland’s Dominique Meichtry (1:49,21) and Darian Townsend (1:50,07).
”I was hoping for a one minute and 46 seconds but it was a good enough time considering that I had to work by myself up front all the way. I swim a lot stronger when I’m pushed by my opposition.”
Neethling said that he had just come back into 200m racing after concentrating on 50m and 100m.
Townsend swam an Olympic qualifier 1:49,57 in the semis, squeezing through by 0,3 seconds. Neethling also qualified for Athens in the 100m freestyle.
The only other national record so far was set by Lauren Roets, who swam 25,88 seconds for the 50m freestyle on Saturday.
Du Toit, out to make history as the first disabled Olympic qualifier, swam her heart out to claim the silver medal in 9:01,41. This, after her goggles came off at the start and she had to fix them at her first turnaround.
Du Toit, who lost her lower leg in a scooter accident leading up to the 2000 Sydney Olympics, was thrilled with her silver behind Wendy Trott of Western Province who swam 8:54,97 for the gold.
”That was eight seconds faster than my best,” said Du Toit, who is looking to the Beijing Olympics in 2008 and will now focus on the Paralympics in Athens. ”I turned 20 two weeks ago, so I’ll be 24 by the time Beijing comes.
”Judging on my swim tonight, I reckon I’ll have the strength to get closer to that 8:36,94 Olympic qualifier. It’s a long way to go still, but I’m determined to give it my best shot.” — Sapa