Slain South African swimmer Kenneth Smith was a well-mannered, humble and courageous person.
This was the opinion of most of the people who spoke about Smith during his memorial service in Johannesburg on Wednesday.
”He just touched lives — he was a young man of extreme courage, seriously competitive and humble,” said Easlyn Young, manager of the Learn to Swim programme in South Africa.
She told family and friends gathered at the Parktown Boys’ High School hall that she would always remember Smith as a person ”who reached one’s heart as he extended his hand, always with a warm greeting”.
She said Smith always spoke more about his family than his work and was respected and admired by his peers.
Former Springbok breaststroke ace Pastor Herman Nienaber said Smith always helped people, but he was also a dreamer who wanted to get more out of life.
The service for the 26-year-old swimmer, whose body was found in a plastic bag on the outskirts of Peshawar in Pakistan on April 8, lasted about an hour.
About 150 people — close friends and relatives — attended.
Many of them, with tears in their eyes, looked silently ahead during the service.
Nienaber said there had been a lot of speculation in the media about Smith’s death but he was certain that Smith, who was a born-again Christian, would have remembered God at the time of his death.
Smith’s father, Neville Smith, said last week: ”While there has been much negative speculation as to the reasons and cause of death, according to official sources it is suspected that he was poisoned.
”Tissue samples have been forwarded to Karachi for forensic analysis to confirm the nature of poisoning. Once the findings are available the family will release a further statement.” — Sapa