Ryk Neethling fails to progress in Beijing, but other SA swimmers fare better in their heats.
South Africa’s swim stars are set to gather in Cape Town this weekend for the final national swimming camp in home waters before they take up the challenge in a series of international galas prior to competing at the Beijing Olympic Games in August.
South African athletes will not be given specific targets for Beijing, but will aim to better previous records and enjoy the challenging experience of the Olympic Games. The first batch of names of athletes and officials who will form part of Team SA were announced at Olympic House in Johannesburg on Wednesday.
Gerhard Zandberg kept South Africa’s fast-lane medal hunt on course with his 50m backstroke heats effort, coupled with fine performances by Melissa Corfe, Suzaan van Biljon and William Diering, at the Fina World Short-Course Swimming Championships in Manchester on Friday.
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.
Gerhard Zandberg’s African record-breaking performance in the 100m backstroke, plus speedy times set by Cameron van der Burgh and Jessica Pengelly, gave the South African team much to cheer about on the opening morning of the Fina World Short-Course Swimming Championships on Thursday.
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/ 23 February 2008
Western Province teenage swimming sensation Jessica Pengelly battled to contain her surprise after smashing her national 400m individual medley record in front of a vocal crowd at the Samsung Swimming Grand Prix series at the University of the Western Cape on Saturday.
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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.