Rocco Meiring urges patience with Pieter Coetze ahead of Commonwealth Games

With the swimming competition set to open the Games on Friday, many South Africans are expecting Coetze to lead the medal charge. 

However, in an interview with SABC Sport, Meiring believes expecting the 22-year-old to carry the hopes of an entire nation is unfair. 

"Yeah, we will have to see if Pieter is ready, you know, it's impossible for an athlete to fire at every single competition,” said Meiring.

“Pieter has had a good run at World Championships last year since then he's had some bumps and bruises and we'll have to see whether he's ready but I don't like to put undue pressure on any athlete including Pieter because if we want a recipe to destroy an athlete then we start to put expectations and undue pressure on them."

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Meiring says Coetze continues to balance his swimming career with his studies, which is not an easy task for any elite athlete. 

While he admits the workload is demanding, the experienced coach says it should not be used as an excuse if the world champion falls short of expectations at the Commonwealth Games. 

He points out that many top international swimmers are also juggling their academic commitments while competing at the highest level.

"It's never easy if you study as well, so it's a lot easier to do nothing, which we don't wanna do and he doesn't wanna do. So, it does complicate matters sometimes, university helps a lot as much as they can to facilitate his swimming but the fact of the matter is he still has to write tests, attend classes, hand in projects and pass exams,” he explained. 

“So, we can't use his studying as an excuse because his opponents, many of them are still studying."