Swimmers in good form for Beijing
Brad Morgan
15 April 2008
A new championship record in the 200 metres breaststroke by Suzaan van Biljon at the Fina World Short Course Championships in Manchester, UK highlighted a strong showing by South Africa's swimming team on the weekend.
Van Biljon clocked two minutes, 18.73 seconds to convincingly lower the previous mark of two minutes, 20.22 seconds set way back in 1999 by Japan's Masami Tanaka.
She also excelled in the 100 metres, capturing bronze in an African record of one minute, 05.38. The USA's Jessica Hardy claimed gold in 1:04.22, with Australia's Jade Edmistone second in 1:04.93.
Silver
There was a further success in the breaststroke for South Africa when Cameron van der Burgh won silver in the men's 100 metres. Igor Borysik took gold in 57.74 seconds, with Van der Burgh second in 57.92 as the first three finishers bettered the previous championship record.
William Diering continued SA's success in the breaststroke by finishing third behind Kristopher Gilchrist and 100 metres winner Borysik in the 200 metres.
Gerhard Zandberg added a further bronze medal in the 50 metres freestyle. Interestingly, at the recent Telkom SA National Aquatic Championships in Durban, swum in a 50-metre pool, four men apart from Zandberg recorded Olympic A-standard qualifying times.
Beijing preparations
All four – Roland Schoeman (21.90 secs), Gideon Louw (22.06), Lyndon Ferns (22.22), and Ryk Neethling (22.26) – elected to skip the World Championships to concentrate on their preparations for the Beijing Olympics.
Schoeman, Ferns, and Neethling are part of a hugely successful Arizona Wildcats' programme that has enjoyed a very good relationship with South African swimmers, who have excelled under coach Frank Busch. More importantly, they represented three-quarters of the South African 4 by 100 metres freestyle relay team that won gold at the Athens Olympics in a world record time.
The decision of the trio to head back to Tucson didn't sit well with Swimming South Africa's national coach, Dirk Lange, who often hasn't seen eye-to-eye with the SA's American-based national swimmers.
However, the swimmers' viewpoint is one of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". They're comfortable with Busch and the results they've achieved under him speak for themselves, so they see no reason to turn their back on something that is working and working well, especially with so much at stake in Beijing.
Freestyle strength
Judging by the performances of the country's top freestylers at the SA National Aquatic Championships, from 1 April to 6 April, South Africa is in with a good shot at successfully defending the title they won in such style in Athens.
In Durban, Ferns clinched the 100 metres title in 49.12, with Neethling second in 49.15, and Schoeman third in 49.24.
The good form also exhibited by Louw, Zandberg, and Darian Townsend, who was the fourth member of the gold medal winning team in 2004, and is studying at Arizona, shows that South Africa has enviable depth in the event. Such depth is also responsible for a very strong level of competition, which pushes the swimmers to ever-improving performances.
South African swimming has been on an upward spiral since the inspiring gold medal victory in Athens and the improvement was reflected at the SA National Championships where 21 swimmers met the A-standard criteria for the Beijing Olympic Games.
Women qualifiers
Significantly, there were five women who bettered the required standards; in Athens, there were no women in the South African team.
Clearly, the freestyle is a strong stroke for South Africa's men. Roland Schoeman qualified for the 50 and 100 metres, as did Gideon Louw and Ryk Neethling. Lyndon Ferns added qualification for the 100 metres butterfly to the two short freestyle events. Gerhard Zandberg added a further qualification in the 50 free.
Over 200 metres, Jean Basson and Darian Townsend qualified for the 200 metres, while the national 4 by 200 relay squad of Basson, Townsend, Jasper Venter, and Sebastien Rousseau bettered the Beijing standard by 4.76 seconds
At long distance, Troyden Prinsloo booked his spot with a qualifying time in the 1 500 metres.
In the breaststroke, Cameron van der Burgh qualified for the 100 metres, while both William Diering and Neil Versfeld achieved the required standards in the 200 metres.
Two men , George du Rand and Gerhard Zandberg, qualified for the 100 metres backstroke, while Riaan Schoeman made it in the 400 metres individual medley and Darian Townsend in the 200 IM.
Qualifiers in two events
Four of the five women who booked their places in Beijing qualified in two events.
Lize-Marie Retief will contest the 50 metres freestyle and the 100 metres butterfly, with Mandy Loots set to join her in the longer event. Loots finished fourth and Retief fifth in the 100 butterfly at the Short Course World Championships in Manchester.
Melissa Corfe bettered the needed marks in the 400 freestyle and 200 backstroke, while Wendy Trott also qualified for the 400 freestyle, as well as the 800.
Breaststroker Suzaan van Biljon will compete in both the 100 and 200 metres in Beijing.
With a good mix of experience and youth, proven stars and rising stars, good things are expected of the South African swimming team in Beijing.
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