Bay to host Olympic swimming qualifiers
● Splitting of event over three days aimed at limiting risk of spreading coronavirus
The Eastern Cape will be a hive of swimming activity over the next few months with a number of high profile events set to take place for athletes eyeing Olympic Games qualification.
EC Aquatics president Tony Hadley was confident the events could go ahead without a hitch, calling for more events of this nature to be held in the province.
Hadley said the meetings set to take place in the metro included the Olympic trial events, the junior national swimming championships and SA Open Water Swimming Championships over the next few months.
The national open water event will see some of the country’s top open water swimmers in Marina Martinique starting on March 19.
According to a restructured competition calendar, the events are meant to take place in the third window of competition from January 3 to April 1.
Hadley said the Covid-19 pandemic had had a huge effect on the sport, especially with some facilities not available for use to the athletes.
However, he looked forward to breathing some life back into the sport across the province.
“The top 120 swimmers in the country like your Chad le Clos, Tatjana Schoenmaker and others who are likely to be going to the Olympics, will swim at the Olympic trials in the Bay.
“The junior nationals will also take place in the Bay, with the senior national swimmers who did not qualify inside the top 120 set to compete with the junior nationals,” Hadley said.
Hadley was unable to provide confirmed dates for the long course Olympic trial events at this stage but was confident these events would be hosted successfully.
He said the national open water swimming championships would also be an official qualification event where swimmers could vie for a spot in the 10km marathon race at the 2021 Tokyo Games.
The splitting of the event over three days will ensure that competitors are spread out to limit the risk of spreading the virus.
“We have some very good swimmers in both open water and pool swimming and I am confident that we can mount a challenge and do well at the championships,” he said.
Asked what the team numbers might look like with the country’s move to a level 1 national lockdown, Hadley said discussions were still ongoing with a final confirmation expected from Swimming SA.
Hadley, who is based in East London, said they were also looking into growth of the sport at grassroots level.
“We have been doing quite a lot of work in trying to get our development programmes going.
“As a province, we have always been pro development and we will work tirelessly across the province to ensure success.
“Our biggest issue has been the pandemic and inability to travel,” he said.