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SA Olympic team taking shape

Brad Morgan

6 May 2008

South Africa's team to contest the Beijing Olympic Games is starting to take shape, with a number of sports having announced their representatives for the August showpiece. The team will be named in three stages.

A number of athletes besides those already named have qualified for the Olympics but their sporting codes have not yet announced their line-ups; a recent example is Natalie du Toit, who qualified for the Open Water Swimming event in Beijing, thus becoming the first amputee in history to qualify for the Olympics.

Moss Mashishi, president of the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc), said the organisation's message to the athletes is that they should improve on their previous performances and do their best.

He says targets and specific numbers have been avoided, but Sascoc would like to see an improvement over South Africa's performance four years ago in Athens.

Improvement

Following the South African National Aquatic Championships in Durban, a 21-member Olympic team, made up of 13 men and eight women, was announced. All of them will contest swimming events apart from Jenna Dreyer, who will be diving in the Olympics for the second time.

The composition of the team, especially the inclusion of seven female swimmers, is an exciting development for the sport in South Africa because four years ago not one woman qualified to swim in the Olympics!

Among the women, breaststroker Suzaan van Biljon, the winner of the gold medal in the 200 metres breaststroke at the Fina World Short Course Championships in Manchester in April, looks the strongest challenger for a medal. Previously, in 1996, Penny Heyns did the double, claiming both the 100 and 200 metres breaststroke titles.

Relay strength

The men's swimming line-up appears to be very strong and a successful defence of the 4 by 100 metres freestyle gold medal that South Africa won in Athens is a distinct possibility; with the depth the team has - five men swam under 50 seconds at the SA Nationals - it will be crucial that the selectors make the correct choices when putting together the four-man team because split-seconds are what make the difference at Olympic Games level.

Breaststroke is also a strong event for the men, with both Cameron van der Burgh and William Diering having won medals at the Fina World Short Course Championships, and Neil Versfeld adding extra depth.

Calvin Hartley will be the sole archer to fly South Africa's flag. The 19-year-old is the only full-time archer in the country and recently successfully defended both the recurve titles that he had won at the SA Nationals in 2007.

Surprisingly, only one boxer qualified for Beijing. Flyweight Jackson Chauke ensured his place at the Olympics with silver medals at the 2006 Commonwealth Games and the All Africa Games in 2007.

Cycling stars

The SA cycling team includes Team Barloworld members Robert Hunter and John-Lee Augustyn, mountain-biking star Burry Stander, who has been in excellent recent form overseas, time trial specialist David George, and Yolande Speedy, who will be in mountain bike action.

There are six fencers in the SA team, with Adele du Plooy, a veteran of the 2002 Commonwealth Games, the most experienced competitor on the international stage.

Rhythmic gymnast Odette Richard will be SA's sole representative in gymnastics in Beijing. A multiple South African champion, she has also won numerous African titles and has competed at the World Championships and Commonwealth Games.

Sailing women

Three women will represent South Africa in sailing: Skipper Dominique Provoyeur, Penny Alison, and Kim Rew. Alison and Provoyeur are long-time teammates, but they put out an appeal for a third team member - not necessarily a sailor - in January 2006 for the Beijing Games and it was Rew, a top canoeist, who cracked the nod.

The trio have named themselves Team Isigungu, which is a Zulu word meaning "working together towards a common goal". Their most recent results include top-20 finishes at the World and European Championships.

In shooting, two women have been named in the team: Diane Swanton and Esmari van Reenen. Swanton won gold at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in the trap, while Van Reenan won silver in the women's 50 metre rifle.

TEAM SA OLYMPIANS

Aquatics

• Jenna Dreyer
• Kathryn Meaklim
• Melissa Corfe
• Jessica Pengelly
• Lize-Mari Retief
• Mandy Loots
• Wendy Trott
• Suzaan van Biljon
• Cameron van der Burgh
• Darian Townsend
• Gerhard Zandberg
• George Du Rand
• Gideon Louw
• Jean Basson
• Lyndon Ferns
• Neil Versfeld
• Riaan Schoeman
• Roland Schoeman
• Ryk Neethling
• Troyden Prinsloo
• William Diering

Archery

• Calvin Hartley

Boxing

• Jackson Chauke

Cycling

• Robert Hunter
• John-Lee Augustyn
• David George
• Burry Stander
• Yolande Speedy

Fencing

• Jyoti Chetty
• Adele Du Plooy
• Elvira Wood
• Michael Wood
• Dario Torrente
• Sello Maduma

Gymnastics

• Odette Richard

Sailing

• Penny Alison
• Dominique Provoyeur
• Kim Rew

Shooting

• Diane Swanton
• Esmari Van Reenen