Van der Burgh in deep water

Cameron van der Burgh pulled out of the 100m breaststroke heats on the opening morning of the swimming leg of the world championships in Budapest in Hungary on Sunday.

It is a decision that may yet come back to haunt him when the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) reviews the list of recipients on its Operation Excellence funding programme.

In the build-up to the international showpiece Van der Burgh had said his prime focus was the 50m breaststroke‚ which begins on Tuesday.

Van der Burgh, who won medals in the 100m event at the past four world championships, had said he would play the 100m by ear.

He was ranked 16th in the 100m going into this gala‚ but said he had been happy with his preparation‚ pointing out that his 1min 00.02sec effort in Barcelona was his secondfastest career 100m on the Mare Nostrum series. He would have needed to get closer to his best time of the year‚ his 59.73 at the SA championships in April‚ to have qualified for the semifinals on Sunday evening.

His decision could cause a financial backlash from Sascoc. The 100m breaststroke is an Olympic event; the 50m is not.

Even if Van der Burgh wins the gold, it might not convince Sascoc to keep him on board.

Sascoc has shown little sentimentality in the past‚ even dropping track star Caster Semenya in 2013‚ less than a year after she had won Olympic silver.