The battle is over but the fight remains for South Africa's female swimmers who launched a valiant but fruitless attempt at qualifying for the Rio Olympics in the last two legs of the Mare Nostrum series in Europe this week.
London Olympian Karin Prinsloo, future prospects Mariella Venter and Tatjana Schoenmaker made the trip to France to participate in Canet-en-Roussillon, no doubt knowing the chances of selection would be near-impossible even if they posted qualifying times.
Swimming South Africa’s (SSA) qualifying criteria for the Games had been clear and has consistently been the same over the years for events like the World Championships.
Swimmers are required to post qualifying times at the South African Swimming Championships to be considered for Olympic selection.
Schoenmaker missed the mark by a heartbreaking 100th of a second in the 200m breaststroke at national champs in April while Venter also came painstakingly close.
Their struggles highlight a worrying decline in women’s swimming, which the mother body has been aware of and has made some effort to address. Missing qualification meant South Africa would go to the Games without a female swimmer since 2004.
It became clear that women's swimming was heading in this direction when South Africa failed to qualify a single female for last year’s World Championships in Kazan, Russia.
The trio’s fighting spirit should be noted and applauded and hopefully their plight will result in women’s swimming receiving more attention in future.
The South African Olympic team's general lack of female representation possibly fuelled the three swimmers to take the chance.
Unfortunately, if an exception is made for them, then hockey could claim the same and what about other male swimmers who missed the boat.
Emotion has no place in team selection otherwise swimming legend Roland Schoeman should have been awarded the chance of appearing at a record fifth Olympic Games.
Much is made about racially-based transformation in sport - and rightfully so - but not enough is being done to address female representation.
Whether we like it or not, women face challenges men do not, which makes competitive participation in sport the more difficult.
Coaches have to approach women differently to the way they do their male athletes, and it is time we admit this and find ways of supporting them.
Swimming South Africa will tell you the outlook for Tokyo 2020 is much rosier, and there is enough evidence to support this.
Do we have the capacity and the know-how to ensure that a 16-year-old Mariella, Schoenmaker, and Nathania van Niekerk do not fall by the wayside in four years’ time? Some of the top female swimmers have spoken of a lack of support from all involved, which includes the coaches and the federation for the attrition rate. That was the case with Olympic finalist and former world short-course champion Suzaan van Biljon and one of the reasons for Prinsloo’s decline.
The South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) have in the past made team selections based on athletes’ future potential instead of current form and in previous years, swimmers could also make the team based on their B-qualifying times.
Were we serious about addressing the decline in women’s swimming, Sascoc and SSA would have considered allowing B-qualifying standards.
This will only be a temporary solution while we find the reasons behind the decline, but it will at least give aspiring girls hope of making it to the Games.
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