South Africa
Neethling Named Second Sexiest Man Alive
No news is usually good news when it comes to South African swimmers Ryk Neethling and Roland Schoeman. That’s because headlines involving the two have almost exclusively depicted an ongoing feud with Swimming South Africa in regards to their decisions to train in the United States. Lucky for fans of two of South Africa’s most famous […]
Natalie Coughlin Steals Show on Last Day of South African World Cup
The two person American contingent of Randall Bal and Natalie Coughlin represented their country phenomenally well, as both took 2 events and often in striking distance of world record time. The other highlight of the day was a grudge match between South African Captain Gerhard Zanberg and U.S.-based Roland Schoeman in the 50 free, with […]
Schoeman’s Quality Countered by Zandberg’s Quantity at South African World Cup
Plenty of stars were on hand at the Durban stage of the short course World Cup. Many fans were excited to hear headlines about Roland Schoeman swimming in South Africa as opposed to those concerning his status with the South African federation, and his matchups with South African Captain Gerhard Zandberg were highly touted. But […]
South Africa Breathes Sigh of Relief: Schoeman Will Compete in World Cup
The South African stage of the World Cup, taking place this weekend, just got a whole lot faster. Uncertanties about whether or not South African Swimming’s biggest star, Roland Schoeman, would race have apparently been put down. This comes on the heels of reports of uncertanties from both Schoeman and the organizers about Roland’s ability to compete […]
South African Short Course Championship Highlights
Despite all the attention we have given the controversy in South African Swimming they actually still do swim down there, and really well. South African Team Captain Gerhard Zandberg led the way with a mind boggling seven national titles, in all four strokes for that matter. Also grabbing headlines were Lize-Mari Retief, who broke two African […]
Ryk Neethling Pulls Out of Nationals - Scan Shows No Shoulder Tear
As the South African (SA) Short Course Nationals continued in Pietermaritzburg, Gerhard Zandberg - with his six victories - and Lize-Marie Retief - with her two African and SA records - have been the story of the meet thus far. But today, it was Ryk Neethling who grabbed headlines as he has pulled out […]
Roland Schoeman Awarded South African National Order
Roland Schoeman was one of four South Africans that were honored for their contributions to sport at a National Orders Ceremony held in Pretoria, South Africa last Thursday. Schoeman was likely awarded The Order of Ikhamanga. This award is given for excellence in the fields of arts, culture, literature, music, journalism and sport.
High Performance Center Responds: Did Swimming South Africa Overstep Their Authority?
The plight in South Africa, some call it a soap opera (including myself), has been followed intently over the past few months. The battles between heads of the organization and its foreign-based swimmers come and go, almost like high and low tide in the oceans. Recently, Larry Laursen, the Technical and Educational Consultant to […]
Roland Schoeman Finally Speaks Out
Schoeman finally has issued a statement in regards to the situation going on with the code of conduct. While it’s not newsworthy that Schoeman is not a big fan of the contract, it is worth noting how much of this argument has been done through the public. If you look at that article, you’ll even see that […]
Swimming South Africa Happy With Lange; What is Next?
There is dissent brewing within Swimming South Africa (SA) and it seems to be a case of country vs. coach. While a singular swimmer, Gerhard Zandberg, has spoken out and said publicly that he trusts head coach Dirk Lange “with his career,” he seems to be the only swimmer to support Lange - publicly, […]
Rifts Coming to Surface of South African Swimming
The troubles of South African Swimming have been well-documented this year, as everything that resembles a “compromise” has been followed by new and seemingly more intense/controversial issues. If you read that and then immediately thought “here we go again,” you either have a paranormal ability to predict the future or the common sense to see […]
Dirk Lange Angry About Swimmers’ Decision to Miss All Africa Games
Here we go again. In an interview published yesterday by Xinhua Swimming South Africa’s head coach Dirk Lange declared, quite frankly, that he was extremely upset with the decision of South Africa’s top male swimmers to skip the All Africa Games. You will remember back that this is not the first time that these […]
South Africa Passes Law to Speed up Racial Transformation of Sport
When the swimming community thinks of South African sporting controversy, the recent debacle with leaving Roland Schoeman and his American-based training partners off the national team comes to mind. The rest of the world is getting wind of another one: the lack of racial equality in South African Sports. On Wednesday the South African Parliament […]
Schoeman Back on South African National Squad
Well, it appears that Swimming South Africa (SSA) has finally removed their heads from a dark place and realized that it’s a good thing to include your best swimmers on your National Team. In an announcement today, the South African Federation declared that not only Schoeman, but fellow Olympic Gold Medalists Lyndon Ferns and Darian Townsend […]
Is South African Swimming Correct in Discouraging Training in U.S.?
With the announcement last week that the South African Olympic Trials will be held at the exact same time as the American NCAA Championships, South African Swimming and head coach Dirk Lange have made it abundantly clear, if it wasn’t before, that they do not want their athletes training outside of South Africa. In […]
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