Zandberg wins SA's second gold
Brad Morgan
2 April 2007
South Africa's challenge at the 2007 Fina World Championships in Melbourne finished on a high in Melbourne on Sunday when Gerhard Zandberg raced to victory in the final of the men's 50 metres backstroke, touching in 24.98 seconds to shatter the South African and African record.
Zandberg showed he was in good form when he turned in the second-fastest time in the heats, followed by the third-fastest time in the semi-finals of 25.26. When it came to the medal-deciding race, he was in a class of his own.
World record holder Thomas Rupprath took second place in 25.20, with Liam Tancock, who had recorded the fastest time in the semi-finals, securing bronze with a time of 25.23.
Sacrifices worthwhile
After powering to victory, the 2.04 metres (6 foot 8) tall Zandberg said winning World Championship gold made all the sacrifices worthwhile.
"I spent so many years in the pool giving up so many things. Here and
now, it is all worth it," he said.
Earlier in the championships, Roland Schoeman successfully defended his title in the 50 metres butterfly, but he wasn't in his best form in the 50m freestyle final.
He qualified seventh fastest in 22.24 and took seventh in the final in 22.16. That was some way off his best of 21.69, which won him gold at Montreal in 2005 and would have been good enough for a second gold in Melbourne.
Breaststroke bronze
Apart from Zandberg and Schoeman, South Africa also claimed a bronze medal through young breaststroker Cameron van der Burgh.
In the heats, the 18-year-old recorded the fastest time of 27.49. His time in the semi-finals of 27.99 was seventh quickest and secured him a place in the medal round.
Swimming a 27.88, Van der Burgh took third behind Oleg Lisogor and Brendan Hansen. Ironically, his 27.49 in the heats would have comfortably secured him gold in the final.
However, Van der Burgh
was more than happy to win the bronze. "This has been a great meet for me; I cannot believe that I won a medal at my first major meet," he said.
Van der Burgh failed to qualify for the finals of the 100 metres breaststroke, but he did better Brett Peterson's long-standing South African record with a time of 1:01.12.
Strong performances
A number of other South Africans, although they didn't win medals, turned in strong performances.
Lyndon Ferns took fourth in the 100 metres butterfly and improved the African record in the semi-finals, although that was bettered shortly afterwards by Jason Dunford of Kenya, whom Ferns beat in the finals.
Suzaan van Biljon also secured a fourth place finish, swimming in the 200 metres breaststroke. She was fastest in the heats and third-fastest in the semis.
The men's 4x100m freestyle relay team finished just outside the medals in fourth place. They did, at least, remain the fastest quartet
in the Commonwealth, with the medals going to the USA, Italy, and France.
African record
Wendy Trott qualified for the final of the 800 metres freestyle with an African record time of 8:31.53. She ended seventh, just over a second slower than her African record swim.
Although Trott didn't qualify for the finals of the 400m freestyle, she nonetheless swam a South African record 4:13.92.
Diver Jenna Dreyer performed well in the one-metre springboard, finishing thirteenth in the preliminaries to just miss out on the semi-finals, with the top 12 advancing.
The South African men's team finished thirteenth in waterpolo, proving themselves to be a competitive outfit in matches against Croatia, the USA, Australia, Japan and China.
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