The City of Tshwane on Monday congratulated swimmer Cameron van der Burgh on securing the country’s first Olympic gold medal in eight years at the London Games.
“In true Tshwane-style, Van der Burgh ignited excellence by beating a stellar field in the 100-metre breaststroke with a world-record time of 58.46 seconds,” the City said in a statement.
“On behalf of the 2.5 million residents of the capital city of South Africa, we would like to congratulate Cameron on his magnificent performance.”
Van der Burgh won the men’s 100m breaststroke final on Sunday in a world record time — 0.12 seconds faster than the previous record held by Australian Brenton Rickard — to become South Africa’s first men’s individual Olympic swimming champion.
He qualified for the final on Saturday when he won his semi-final by breaking the previous South African, African and Olympic records with a time of 58.95.
The City of Tshwane said Van der Burgh was the pride of the continent.
“City-based Van der Burgh’s medal means that South Africa has already equalled its medal success of the last games in Beijing four years ago where they won just one medal, which was Khotso Mokoena’s silver in the long jump.”
The City also wished the rest of the South African Olympic team well.
The Gauteng Province has also added their congratulations to the gold medalist.
– By Tshwane proud of Van der Burgh
