South African rookie Cameron van der Burgh’s only thought going into the 50m breaststroke final of the World Swimming Championships on Wednesday was not to finish last. Instead he won a bronze medal.
No one was more surprised than the 18-year-old.
”I can’t describe it. I never even thought about it. It’s my first world championships,” said the United States-based nutrition student.
”I was a rookie in the field among all those veterans. I hope this medal is going to be a kick to my career.”
Ukrainian world record holder Oleg Lisogor won the event ahead of American breaststroke king Brendan Hansen, but what made Van der Burgh most pleased was beating Japan’s Olympic 100m breaststroke champion Kosuke Kitajima.
”A couple of months ago I was still watching him on TV. I never thought I could beat him,” he said.
It was South Africa’s second medal of the world championships following Roland Schoeman’s successful defence of his 50m butterfly world title on Monday.
Schoeman scrapped into the final of the 100m freestyle on Wednesday, along with countryman Ryk Neethling. They both swam 48,87 behind fastest qualifier Jason Lezak of the US (48.51).
Neethling said he was under a lot of pressure and it was nice to prove some people wrong by making Thursday’s showdown.
”There was a lot of pressure; I’m happy to get under 49 seconds because it’s been a very tough 18 months,” he said.
”I’ve had injuries and I’ve moved programmes three times. Johannesburg, then Pretoria and then back to Arizona.”
”I had a big disadvantage and managed to step up and surprise some people.” — AFP
