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South Africans to watch in Rio: Cameron van der Burgh

Cape Town - Cameron van der Burgh's heroics at London 2012 made him one of the superstars of Team South Africa.

Since then he has lost his 100m breaststroke world record to Britain's Adam Peaty, who is considered the overwhelming favourite to win the event at Rio 2016, if the bookies are to be believed.

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At last year's World Championships, Van der Burgh lost out to Peaty in both the 50m and 100m swims and the Briton also now boasts the world record in the 100m that belonged to Van der Burgh before that. 

The momentum is clearly with Peaty going into this year's Olympics, but Van der Burgh is still expected to challenge for the title and to - at the very least - win silver. 

At 28, this could very well be his last Olympics and he will want to go out on a high. 

Van der Burgh will take a lot of confidence from the fact that, in 2015, he won the 100m in all eight meets throughout the year at the FINA World Cup which included a win over Peaty as recently as November. 

Van der Burgh is also entered for the 200m breaststroke, but he is not considered a serious contender there. 

South Africans might not have to wait long for their first medal celebration. 

The 100m breaststroke heats and semi-finals take place on the first day of swimming action on August 6, with the final taking place in August 7. 

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