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Cameron - SA's answer to Bolt
2009-04-21 11:09
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SA's newest world record holder (Gallo Images)
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Johannesburg - Gone in 27 seconds.
If Cameron van der Burgh were a 100m track sprinter, he would be South Africa's answer to Usain Bolt. The man himself, however, simply laughs at such comparisons - despite his latest record-breaking efforts.
Van der Burgh was the toast of Durban at the weekend as he confirmed himself as one of the quickest men in water at present en route to claiming his third world record - this time in the 50 metre breaststroke.
The 20-year-old romped to a cracking time of 27.06 seconds - shaving 12-hundreths of a second off the previous mark (set by Oleg Lisogor) - yet he remained as modest as ever after his latest achievement.
"I still can't believe it," Van der Burgh tells www.in-site.com. "It was something I was obviously hoping to achieve... I'm just over the moon." Ironically, despite breaking his second 50-metre world record, Van der Burgh will no longer be specialising in the 'sprint' breaststroke distance as it is not an Olympic event.
"I'll be concentrating on the 100m and 200m breaststroke in the future," he reveals. "Winning the 100m event is my aim for the next world champs, but it takes a bit longer to challenge in the 200m event - but hopefully that will come within the next year or so." One gets the feeling that Van der Burgh's record-breaking exploits will soon be transferred from 50 metres, to 100 metres and then, finally, to 200m. In fact, his 50m record at the weekend is simply the tip of the iceberg to those in the know.
The born and bred Pretoria boy has been in superb form since after last year's Olympics when he claimed the World Cup title - which is based on a points system, almost like the ATP (tennis) circuit - and with it a more than generous pay out.
"That (World Cup win) gave me a lot of confidence," admits Cameron.
"The Olympics were obviously a tough time for us (swimmers), but aside from the older guys like Ryk (Neethling) and Roland (Schoeman) the rest of us are youngsters and it was a great experience simply being there. We'll be stronger and wiser from the experience come 2012.
"Hopefully," he adds, "myself and some of the other younger guys should be nearing our peak come 2012, like Ryk, Roland and co. did in 2004 - so we can expect better results from our swimmers come the London Olympics." But there is still plenty of swimming ahead before Van der Burgh can even start thinking about 2012. Starting, in fact, with the upcoming world long course championships in Rome.
"Yeah," he says, "the world champs are the big one... In terms of ranking all the events out there; the Olympics are first, followed by the world long course champs and then the short course champs and the World Cup." Short course... long course - can somebody please explain? Van der Burgh chuckles, then offers his expertise: "Most people out there get confused between short and long course swimming, but I guess the easiest way to explain it is to compare it to cricket - Test cricket v limited over cricket. Long course - in a 50-metre pool - is the purists' form, whereas short course swimming - in a 25m pool - is more exciting with all the extra turns."
Unlike most of this country's top swimmers (who tend to head to America), Van der Burgh has done the majority of his training in South Africa -except for the odd session abroad under new coach Norimasa Hirai, who coaches none other than double Olympic breaststroke champion Kosuke Kitajima.
"It's just been my choice (not to train abroad)," explains Cameron, who has been swimming since the age of 11 - one school gala being enough to attract his attention.
"I've had offers to train in America, but the US isn't for me, I much prefer being at home, although I do go overseas every now and then to meet up with Norimasa. For instance, I've been to Tokyo to see him and in July I will head to Spain to train with him. Norimasa has changed my stroke a bit, but I can already feel it working, especially in terms of the difference in my muscles." Whilst most of Cameron's time at the moment is being taken up by training, and understandably so, he enjoys photography - "I get nice opportunities due to my travelling" - when away from the pool, or simply just chilling and watching movies.
Then, there is the small matter of his studies - with Van der Burgh currently studying towards his law degree at the University of Pretoria.
He laughs, saying: "From a record breaker to being a student and dealing with assignment deadlines... it doesn't seem quite right, does it?! "But I'm very lucky to be in my current position," he adds, "and also still young, so hopefully I still have a long career, and plenty of exciting times, ahead of me.
"The other day I was amazed when one of the local papers ran a back-page story on me, ahead of a rugby story, so it proves that swimming's profile is on the up here in South Africa. But, at the same time, it's up to guys like me to keep on improving and achieving in order to keep us on the back pages and the SA flag flying high when it comes to the world champs and the Olympics."