Swimmer Chad le Clos plays down chances
CHAD le Clos bagged his fourth title of the SA championships here last night, but for the first time at this gala he missed an Olympic qualifying mark.
He won the 100m butterfly in 52.45sec, nearly one-and-a-half seconds faster than his closest rival, but he was just nine-hundredths of a second too slow to earn what would have been his fifth London-bagging effort here.
"I think it's the most I have ever swum," the gifted swimmer said, adding that he has seven weeks of training to improve himself in.
"But it's no excuse. I have got the time before. I just wanted to say I got five in five. I hope they let me swim the 100m fly in London."
Le Clos and his coach Graham Hill have repeatedly said that the London Olympics is not about silverware - that's the goal for 2016.
Karin Prinsloo and Wendy Trott repeated qualifying efforts as they won the 200m backstroke and 800m freestyle titles respectively, while Heerden Herman cemented his spot in Team SA by winning the 1 500m freestyle in 15min 07.99sec, less than four seconds inside the mark.
"It was a bit tougher than I expected," admitted Herman, who owns the SA record of 14:57.88. "The last 300m was very hard. I heard people shouting, but I wasn't sure if it was because I was well under the qualifying time or if I was close. I just had to gut it out."
To earn selection to London, swimmers have to do two qualifying times, one at an international event and one here, where they also had to finish in the top two.
Twelve swimmers achieved qualifying times at these championships, but three of them still require international qualifying times - Roland Schoeman in the 50m freestyle, Suzaan van Biljon in the 200m breaststroke and Charl Crous in the 100m backstroke.
They will have a chance at competitions in Dublin this weekend and in Berlin next month to get them before the May 15 qualification deadline.
But the selectors will also have to decide whether someone like Le Clos, who has met the criteria in two of his four individual events, can compete in the other two.
Le Clos will take a well-deserved break this week, visiting a game reserve.
"Graham allowed me three days but I'll try to get away with four or five," he said.
Swimmers who achieved qualifying times here are (* denotes full qualification): Chad Le Clos (*200m butterfly, 200m IM, *400m IM, 200m freestyle); Kathryn Meaklim (200m IM, *400m IM); Cameron van der Burgh (*100m breaststroke); Riaan Schoeman (*400m IM); Heerden Herman (*1500m, 400m freestyle); Gideon Louw (*100m freestyle); Darian Townsend (*200m IM); Wendy Trott (*800m freestyle); Karin Prinsloo (*200m backstroke); Roland Schoeman (50m freestyle); Suzaan van Biljon (200m breaststroke) and Charl Crous (100m backstroke).