Ryk Neethling fails to progress in Beijing, but other SA swimmers fare better in their heats.
Jean Basson in the 200m freestyle offered some Olympic hope for a first SA medal on a day that saw the US victorious in the 4x100m relay final.
Teams will soon line up for the event in which South Africa won their sole gold medal of the previous Olympics — the 4x100m freestyle relay.
South Africa’s ”awesome foursome” are making waves less than three months before the Olympic Games in Beijing — despite revelations that the support for the South African Olympic swimmers from Swimming South Africa could come to a halt, according to the Sunday newspaper Sondag.
It took less than a week for South African swimmers to appreciate how tough international competition will be at the Olympics in August. Last Sunday Swimming South Africa announced a record 21 swimmers had posted Olympic qualifying times. But by Wednesday many of these stars had bombed out of the World Short-Course Championships in Manchester.
The Telkom South African National Aquatic Championships came to a thrilling climax at the Kings Park Aquatic Centre in Durban on Sunday evening with an unprecedented 20 swimmers posting Olympic ”A” qualifying times. It was a fitting ending to a sensational Olympic trial for the country’s swimmers.
Someone neglected to remind the participants at the South African National Aquatic Championship in Durban about the oft-repeated truism that the whole sports thing is more about taking part and less about winning. Perhaps even if someone had, the swimmers would not have been too bothered to listen.
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/ 6 February 2008
Swimming South Africa announced on Wednesday a full-strength line up for the Fina World Short-Course Championships in Manchester, United Kingdom, from April 9 to 13. President Jace Naidoo and national coach Dirk Lange said it is the strongest South African short-course squad selected to date.