Cameron van der Burgh’s reign as Olympic champion seems set to end in Rio tonight (3.53am Monday SA time)‚ and history suggests he might not even keep a spot on the podium.
Van der Burgh goes into the final seeded third in the 100m breaststroke semifinals‚ behind Briton Adam Peaty‚ who broke his own world record in the afternoon heats when he went 57.55sec.
Peaty slowed slightly to 57.62 in the late-night session‚ but he was nearly one-and-a-half seconds faster than American Cody Miller (59.05) and then Van der Burgh (59.21).
Apart from Japan’s Kosuke Kitajima‚ who retained his crown in this event in 2008‚ no other champion has managed to win a medal at a subsequent Olympics since the event was introduced at the 1968 Games in Mexico City.
But Van der Burgh has other plans.
“I’m very confident from the morning [heats]‚” he said‚ referring to his effortless 59.35‚ the seventh-best of the first round.
“The semifinal wasn’t as great as we wanted to do but I’m still very confident‚ I’m still lying in a great place to get a medal.
“Obviously we’re hoping for gold‚ if not gold‚ I’ve always said I really do try to do my best.”
Van der Burgh had been hoping to go faster in the night.
“I’m not thrilled with the time. I would have liked to go a bit faster‚ but a few things in the race didn’t feel so right.
“But tomorrow’s another day and we can obviously reset‚ evaluate on what went wrong tonight‚ or what made me feel not as great as I did in the morning.
“It’s another opportunity and I’m looking forward to the final.”
He said he was still getting used to the late times of the sessions‚ to accommodate US TV.
“I guess it’s a little bit strange for everyone. You race at 3pm and when everyone’s eating their dinner at 7.30pm I’m having my lunch … feeling a little bit tired.”
Four other swimmers went faster in the morning than the South African managed in the night‚ including Japan’s Yasuhiro Koseki (58.91)‚ Brazilian Felipe Franca (59.01) and American Kevin Cordes (59.13).
“We obviously did try our preparations staying up a little bit later but … when you do it [racing] it is a little harder.
“Tomorrow’s another day‚ we can have a nice rub-down‚ a really late sleep-in‚ I think it’ll be a lot easier tomorrow.”
Van der Burgh pointed out he had wanted to experience lactic pain in the semifinal to ensure he would find it easier to handle in the final.
“That was the aim tonight and I executed that quite well. Obviously tomorrow it’ll be a lot easier‚” he said‚ adding he had made the mistake of cruising through heats and semifinals at the 2014 Commonwealth Games before being stunned by the lactic.
He insisted he was still going for victory. “Obviously we’re hoping for gold‚ if not gold‚ I’ve always said I really do try to do my best …
“I’m looking forward to the final and hopefully I put my best race together tomorrow night.”
BROWN BREAKS SA RECORD
Myles Brown broke his own South African in the 400m freestyle record as he finished second in his heat in 3min 45.92sec.
But it wasn’t good enough to make the final‚ ranking him 12th overall and half-a-second outside the top eight.
At the 2000 Sydney Olympics Ryk Neethling’s then national mark of 3:46.31 would have been good enough for bronze‚ and 16 years later it doesn’t even get close to spot in the final.
‘SOUTH AFRICAN GOLD’
The 400m freestyle gold did‚ however‚ have a South African flavour.The event was won by Australian Mack Horton‚ upstaging favourite and defending champion Yang Sun of China.
Horton is coached by former SA swimmer Craig Jackson‚ who represented the country at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona.
MEDLEY SWIMMERS FAIL
Michael Meyer and Sebastien Rousseau were unimpressive in the 400m individual medley heats‚ both falling well short of their personal bests.
MEINTJIES IMPRESSES IN ROAD RACE
Louis Meintjes‚ who finished eighth in the Tour de France‚ ended seventh in the men’s road race on Saturday.
With less than 7km to go he was in the top three‚ but when eventual winner Greg van Avermaet of Belgium and Denmark’s silver medallist Jakob Fuglsang attacked‚ he was unable to go with.
Teammate Daryl Impey ended 28th.
“It was a really long hot day and I think me and Daryl worked well together and with what we had and our capabilities we rode a really good race‚” Meintjes said.
They were just two against teams of up to five riders. Of the top six finishers‚ all from different nations‚ three were in five-man teams‚ two in four-man outfits‚ and the runner-up had two support riders.
“I think we’re really chuffed with the way we handled ourselves today‚” said Impey.
“With Louis climbing with the world’s best and finishing seventh‚ [that] is a fantastic result for us.”
ROWERS BATTLE IN ROUGH WATERS
Lawrence Brittain and Shaun Keeling advanced to Tuesday’s semifinals in the men’s pair despite hitting rough waters midway through their heat.
They ended second in the race behind Australia‚ surrendering an early lead.
“It’s wild‚ it’s wild‚” said Brittain. “We knew the wind was going to be big in Rio and we practised a bit‚ but … we don’t usually race in conditions like that.”
Added Keeling: “We had a really good start but the conditions got on top of us in the middle and we lost it a bit.”
TMG Digital/TMG Sport
History against King Cameron van der Burgh
Cameron van der Burgh’s reign as Olympic champion seems set to end in Rio tonight (3.53am Monday SA time)‚ and history suggests he might not even keep a spot on the podium.
Van der Burgh goes into the final seeded third in the 100m breaststroke semifinals‚ behind Briton Adam Peaty‚ who broke his own world record in the afternoon heats when he went 57.55sec.
Peaty slowed slightly to 57.62 in the late-night session‚ but he was nearly one-and-a-half seconds faster than American Cody Miller (59.05) and then Van der Burgh (59.21).
Apart from Japan’s Kosuke Kitajima‚ who retained his crown in this event in 2008‚ no other champion has managed to win a medal at a subsequent Olympics since the event was introduced at the 1968 Games in Mexico City.
But Van der Burgh has other plans.
“I’m very confident from the morning [heats]‚” he said‚ referring to his effortless 59.35‚ the seventh-best of the first round.
“The semifinal wasn’t as great as we wanted to do but I’m still very confident‚ I’m still lying in a great place to get a medal.
“Obviously we’re hoping for gold‚ if not gold‚ I’ve always said I really do try to do my best.”
Van der Burgh had been hoping to go faster in the night.
“I’m not thrilled with the time. I would have liked to go a bit faster‚ but a few things in the race didn’t feel so right.
“But tomorrow’s another day and we can obviously reset‚ evaluate on what went wrong tonight‚ or what made me feel not as great as I did in the morning.
“It’s another opportunity and I’m looking forward to the final.”
He said he was still getting used to the late times of the sessions‚ to accommodate US TV.
“I guess it’s a little bit strange for everyone. You race at 3pm and when everyone’s eating their dinner at 7.30pm I’m having my lunch … feeling a little bit tired.”
Four other swimmers went faster in the morning than the South African managed in the night‚ including Japan’s Yasuhiro Koseki (58.91)‚ Brazilian Felipe Franca (59.01) and American Kevin Cordes (59.13).
“We obviously did try our preparations staying up a little bit later but … when you do it [racing] it is a little harder.
“Tomorrow’s another day‚ we can have a nice rub-down‚ a really late sleep-in‚ I think it’ll be a lot easier tomorrow.”
Van der Burgh pointed out he had wanted to experience lactic pain in the semifinal to ensure he would find it easier to handle in the final.
“That was the aim tonight and I executed that quite well. Obviously tomorrow it’ll be a lot easier‚” he said‚ adding he had made the mistake of cruising through heats and semifinals at the 2014 Commonwealth Games before being stunned by the lactic.
He insisted he was still going for victory. “Obviously we’re hoping for gold‚ if not gold‚ I’ve always said I really do try to do my best …
“I’m looking forward to the final and hopefully I put my best race together tomorrow night.”
BROWN BREAKS SA RECORD
Myles Brown broke his own South African in the 400m freestyle record as he finished second in his heat in 3min 45.92sec.
But it wasn’t good enough to make the final‚ ranking him 12th overall and half-a-second outside the top eight.
At the 2000 Sydney Olympics Ryk Neethling’s then national mark of 3:46.31 would have been good enough for bronze‚ and 16 years later it doesn’t even get close to spot in the final.
‘SOUTH AFRICAN GOLD’
The 400m freestyle gold did‚ however‚ have a South African flavour.The event was won by Australian Mack Horton‚ upstaging favourite and defending champion Yang Sun of China.
Horton is coached by former SA swimmer Craig Jackson‚ who represented the country at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona.
MEDLEY SWIMMERS FAIL
Michael Meyer and Sebastien Rousseau were unimpressive in the 400m individual medley heats‚ both falling well short of their personal bests.
MEINTJIES IMPRESSES IN ROAD RACE
Louis Meintjes‚ who finished eighth in the Tour de France‚ ended seventh in the men’s road race on Saturday.
With less than 7km to go he was in the top three‚ but when eventual winner Greg van Avermaet of Belgium and Denmark’s silver medallist Jakob Fuglsang attacked‚ he was unable to go with.
Teammate Daryl Impey ended 28th.
“It was a really long hot day and I think me and Daryl worked well together and with what we had and our capabilities we rode a really good race‚” Meintjes said.
They were just two against teams of up to five riders. Of the top six finishers‚ all from different nations‚ three were in five-man teams‚ two in four-man outfits‚ and the runner-up had two support riders.
“I think we’re really chuffed with the way we handled ourselves today‚” said Impey.
“With Louis climbing with the world’s best and finishing seventh‚ [that] is a fantastic result for us.”
ROWERS BATTLE IN ROUGH WATERS
Lawrence Brittain and Shaun Keeling advanced to Tuesday’s semifinals in the men’s pair despite hitting rough waters midway through their heat.
They ended second in the race behind Australia‚ surrendering an early lead.
“It’s wild‚ it’s wild‚” said Brittain. “We knew the wind was going to be big in Rio and we practised a bit‚ but … we don’t usually race in conditions like that.”
Added Keeling: “We had a really good start but the conditions got on top of us in the middle and we lost it a bit.”
TMG Digital/TMG Sport
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