Legendary South African swimmers, Ryk Neethling and Lewis Pugh, have expressed their sadness at the passing of long-distance, open water swimmer, Theodore Yach.
He died on Wednesday at the age of 60.
Yach completed the Robben Island to Cape Town crossing a record 108 times.
Multiple Olympic Gold medallist Neethling tweeted that it was “terrible news” while long distance swimmer, Pugh said he was devastated by the news.
Pugh described Yach in a tweet as one of the world’s greatest endurance swimmers, a family man and an environmentalist.
A former chairperson of the Cape Long Distance Swimming Association and friend of Yach, Peter Bales, says they are still shocked and will sorely miss him.
“Whatever facet of open water swimming cropped up in Cape Town, Theo was always part of it. His consistency over the years, every season, you could rely on Theo of doing a certain number of Robben Island swims, and then coming up with other unusual ones. Two weeks ago he was scheduled to swim from Hout Bay to Robben Island and had to call it off because of cold water. So, he was obviously in peak condition and superbly fit.”
