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SA swimmer Pieter Coetze has explained how he switched gears to clinch the first gold medal for the country at the FISU World University Games – setting up another record in the 100m backstroke.
Coetze smashed his own personal best, a national as well as continental record from the previous night to win gold with a time of 51.99.
It’s an achievement that put Team SA on the map as one of the powerhouses in the water at major events.
The 21-year-old shared his thoughts about his triumph in Berlin.
“Super happy, I’m so happy to get a medal for South Africa and thank you for the support on Instagram and social media and also my aunt in the crowd and the whole team watching, thank you very much, it's been an amazing meet so far,” Coetze said.
“I just do what I normally do, also I got it yesterday, I was very happy with that time, I would have taken that for this meet for the 100m but just went back and switched off and came to do a little swim this morning and came with a lot of focus and intent and I was able to drop it more and I was super happy."
The second medal for SA came from Lara van Niekerk in the women’s breaststroke after she clocked 30.68 on the board to get silver.
She too was elated, especially on the back of an injury.
"I'm very happy, it was a very close race but after coming back from an injury I couldn't be happier to be in this position. It was amazing having my teammate next to me in the final, she really helps to calm me down when I get very nervous and I'm just happy for her, first time swimming under 31 for her and I think this is a stepping stone for a lot of big things coming," Niekerk said.
Team SA would go on to later win a third medal in the relay, getting their hands on a bronze.
One of the athletes was Simone Moll, who had earlier swam her personal best in the 50m breaststroke and finished fourth.
"I just swam a 50m breast stroke, I got fourth so I just missed out on a medal but it was PB for me, it was the first time I broke 31seconds. So, I was incredibly happy and argh it was just amazing to swim alongside Lara, she had an amazing race and I'm just so proud of her and I couldn't ask for a better race," Moll said.
