One abiding memory of the Athens Olympics, almost a year ago now, is of a certain ditsy TV reporter standing at the post-4x100m freestyle relay press conference declaring: "You don't really think of swimmers coming from Africa."
You have to wonder if she was watching the World Championships in Montreal over the last week and if she happened to notice that of the top four countries on the swimming medals table, two were African.
One wonders, too, if she's ever heard of Zimbabwe - the country from which, despite all the chaos and disaster, an amicable 21-year-old emerged to produce such impressive performances that she was named best female swimmer of the championships.
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Yes, Kirsty Coventry was the sole reason Zimbabwe finished third overall in the swimming medals and Roland Schoeman and Ryk Neethling were the only South Africans to contribute to this country's fourth place. But that's not a trend unseen by the likes of the swimming powerhouses of America and Australia.
| Coventry was the sole reason Zimbabwe finished third |
In the absence of Ian Thorpe, Grant Hackett was responsible for the Australian men's side's entire haul of gold medals.
The fact that Africa finished ahead of all the European nations must have made the swimming world rethink their perception of a continent which up until this competition had failed to produce one world champion. And in case they hadn't noticed, Schoeman gave them a not-so-subtle reminder after shattering two world records on his way to 50m butterfly gold last week, saying: "Not bad for an African."
In fact, the quote was: "Not bad for a South African. Not bad for an African. Not bad for a human." Because gone are the days of crowds patronisingly cheering on the likes of "Eric the Eel" - the hapless swimmer from Equitorial Guinea who barely made it across the pool at the Sydney Olympics. The Africans have arrived and yes, they may have benefited from the American collegiate system (Coventry, Schoeman and Neethling have all been based in the US at some stage), but the talent was there to begin with.
Some may argue that it's the year after the Olympics, and with the absence of certain stars such as Thorpe and Pieter van den Hoogenband, the competition lacked a certain edge. But judging by the results, countless world and championship records, all the speed and quality was there.
So, bring on Beijing 2008, by which time the likes of Schoeman and Neethling will hopefully have been joined by the throng of up-and-coming youngsters and we might just be making an even bigger dent in the swimming world order.
- This article was originally published on page 23 of The Star on August 03, 2005
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