Adnaan Mohamed - Son

Durban – The notion that black people cannot swim is absolute nonsense.

That is the view of one South Africa’s most experienced swimmers, Ryk Neethling, who was speaking at the Telkom South African national swimming championships at the Kings Park Aquatic Centre in Durban on Sunday.

It was the first time in 18 years that the 31-year-old Olympic gold medalist did not participate in the SA national championships.

“There are so many talented black swimmers in South Africa, but unfortunately not enough opportunities are created for them,” said Neethling.

“That is one of the major problems I have with Swimming South Africa’s Learn to Swim programme.

“You cannot just teach black kids how not to drown. There is no programme in place to ensure that black swimmers are systematically developed. For example they should not only be taught how to swim but should also be taught stroke correction,” explained Neethling.

Neethling was particularly referring to the 19-year-old swim sensation from Cape Town, Chanelle van Wyk, who made history by becoming the first black South African swimmer to break an African record at the SA national swimming champs.

Van Wyk not only won gold in the 50 metre backstroke, she lowered Olympic gold medalist Kirsty Coventry’s Africa record of 28.86 seconds to 28.55. She also won gold in the 50 metre freestyle in 25.96 and also took honours in the 100 metres butterfly in 59.54. As a result she was crowned the best female swimmer of the meet.

“I will always have a soft spot in my heart for Chanelle. She is friends with my sister and I have known her for quite a while. She did not do that well in with her previous coaching programme and she was almost lost to swimming.

“I saw the potential in her and guided her on the right path. I advised her to leave Pretoria (she spent three years at the High Performance centre) and return to the Cape Town where she went back to her old programme under experienced Hungarian coach, Karoly von Toros. She has worked really hard this past year and it has obviously paid off.”

According to Neethling it still feels quite strange to stand next to the swimming pool at the nationals, but after 18 consecutive meets, he felt it was time to take a break.

“I am still in training and haven’t decided to quit just yet. At the moment my swimming academy in Pretoria keeps me quite busy. I am focusing all my energy on helping some of our elite swimmers as well as developing talented youngsters,” he added.