South Africa’s Commonwealth Games swimmers were among the athletes to arrive back in the country on Saturday.
The team of 25 won 22 medals and more than held their own against countries with far greater resources at their disposal.
The team’s plan of sending swimmers in their prime worked perfectly and sets the sport up ahead of the Olympic Games in two years’ time.
Lara van Niekerk typified the fight in the team, defending her 50-metre breaststroke title.
At one point she considered quitting the sport due to health concerns.
“My build-up was not smooth at all, but each little obstacle that I had to overcome just made me stronger and I think in the fifty finals the stronger person was going to win and I knew it. I knew the person that wanted it more was going to win it because all the girls were so close to each other and a fifty is so technical, like one little, small mistake and you say bye-bye to that medal,” says Niekerk.
Meanwhile, swimming coach Dean Price says South Africa’s 25 swimmers performed and achieved against countries with far greater resources, which made their medal haul at the 2026 Commonwealth Games even more remarkable.
Price says South Africa made sure to select swimmers in their prime.
“Where most people go wrong in South Africa, they expect results too early on in their career and what we saw is the performance basically comes from 22 upwards, 22 years of age upwards, so we picked 21 athletes last year. Those 21 athletes made it to the Commonwealth Games and I think that is why you have got a mature group that was totally coherent; they worked together; they put their heart in in every swim.”
