Barefoot water-skiers go for gold
15 July 2005
Despite the absence of injured multiple world champion and record holder Nadine de Villiers, South Africa's water-ski team is confident of bringing home medals from the 2005 World Games, a unique international event featuring non-Olympic sports.
The 2005 World Games, the seventh since the inception of the Games in 1981, is being held in the four German cities of Duisburg, Bottrop, Oberhausen and Mülheim from 14 to 24 July.
South African barefoot champion Andre de Villiers is only 17, but was ranked second in the world in 2004 and currently holds the world record after becoming the first man to pass 10 000 points in competition.
He has been accompanied to Germany by newly crowned junior world champion Sam Heinrich and his brother Zane, who ended fourth at
the Junior World Championships.
The sole woman in the team, Leandrie Dittmar, is equally hungry for success. She is the South African women's barefoot water-ski champion and is ranked in the top 10 in the world.
"Our biggest competition will probably come from the American contingent, but the Australians and England's David Small will be there in the final reckoning," says coach Ina de Villiers.
The final member of the team, Matt Lammers, is competing in the wakeboarding event, a sport very similar to snowboarding. With moves like the Scarecrow, Tantrum, Elephant, KGB, Backroll, and High Side Fuji Glide, Lammers will be looking for some spectacular big-air performances.
The barefoot competition comprises slalom, trick and jump. As the name suggests, the athletes have no skis, only their bare feet.
"Watching flips, 540-degree turns and reverse one-foot tricks are spectacular by any standards," says De Villiers.
"To land a barefoot jump, timing and
coordination are everything. It sounds impossible, but watching the athletes land distances of over 23 metres is something special."
SouthAfrica.info reporter
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