Swimming South Africa head coach Dirk Lange, who has held the position for four years, will not be entering into contract-renewal negotiations with the national federation.
”I am extremely grateful to Swimming SA for the confidence shown in me over the past four years and wish the national federation, its swimmers, coaches and officials all the best for the future,” said Lange.
Swimming SA president Jace Naidoo thanked Lange for his contribution to the sport and said that his knowledge and commitment will be sorely missed.
”Swimming SA respects Lange’s decision to move on and we wish him all the best for the future,” said Naidoo.
During Lange’s spell as head coach, South Africa collected two gold medals, a silver medal and two bronze medals at the Fina World Championships held in Montreal in 2005.
With Lange in charge, South Africa collected five gold, two silver and five bronze medals at the Commonwealth Games held in Melbourne, Australia, two years ago.
Also in 2006, South Africa collected three gold medals and a silver at the Fina World Short-Course Championships held in Shanghai.
At the Fina World Championships held in Melbourne last year, South Africa won two gold medals and a bronze.
At the All-Africa Games held in Algeria last year, South Africa went on a major medal hunt, returning with 25 golds, 17 silvers and 11 bronzes.
In April this year, Lange was at the helm of a highly successful medal haul by the South African team at the Fina World Short-Course Championships held in Manchester, England, with one gold, one silver and three bronze medals.
At the Olympic Games held in Beijing, South Africa swimmers set 22 new African records and 24 South African records, with a total of 24 South African swimmers having taken part in the Olympic showpiece event, compared with the seven swimmers that competed for South Africa at the 2004 Olympics held in Athens.
Further, seven female participants represented South Africa in swimming events in Beijing, which was a major success story after no South African female swimmers had been able to qualify for the Olympics four years earlier.
In addition, South Africa qualified to compete in four relay events in Beijing, after only the men’s 4x100m freestyle team was able to meet the qualifying standard for the 2004 Olympics. — Sapa