Bradley Edward Tandy was on born 2 May 1991 in the Natal town of Ladysmith, where he matriculated at the Ladysmith High School. He swam with the Ladysmith Marlins Swimming Club, where he specialised in breaststroke and 50m freestyle sprinting. At the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia, he won a silver medal in the 50m freestyle.

Brad first started training with Ladysmith Marlins coaches Ivan and Denise Ball at the age of ten. “I was at high school when people started noticing that I was good at swimming. But to be honest, I was more interested in field hockey and just having fun with my friends! I was told, ‘If you trained seriously you could really make a name for yourself in the world of swimming.’

So I took notice and trained with the Marlins for two hours every day after school. Soon enough I was competing and winning events, and was even made the captain of the KZN team entering the SA Games. After high school, I moved to Pietermaritzburg where I trained for one year with the Seals Swimming Club. It was then that I was given the opportunity to take swimming to the next level and try and make a career out of it. I chose to study and train at Indian River State College in Florida and wow, it’s the best decision I’ve ever made!

In 2011 Brad joined the Indian River State College swimming & diving team in Florida. It was there that Tandy helped his team win two National Junior College Champions two years in a row by becoming a five-time national record holder and a five-time All-American in his primary events, the 50 and 100-yard freestyles and relays. He was named the NJCAA Swimmer of the Year and the Florida Athlete of the Year prior to committing to Arizona, and in 2017 he was inducted into the NJCAA Hall of Fame.

In 2013, Tandy opted to continue his education and swimming career at Arizona. Making an immediate impact with the Wildcats, the NJCAA transfer won the 50 free title at the 2014 NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships while also earning All-America honours in the 100 breaststroke, 200 medley relay, and 200 and 400 free relays.

Swimming for the University of Arizona Wildcats in March 2014 Brad swam 50 yards freestyle in 18:80 seconds, which put his just outside the top 10 performances of all time. One month later, at the 2014 NCAA Championships Tandy won the 50-yard freestyle, his first NCAA championship. He also earned All-America honours in the 200 free relay and the 200 medley relay in addition to honourable mention honours in the 100-yard breast and 400 free relay.

Calvyn Justus, Cameron Van Der Burgh, Chad Le Clos and Bradley Tandy pose with their bronze medals after the swimming men’s 4x100m medley relay final during the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games

Personal best times

University of Arizona 

2015-16: Tied for sixth in the 50m free at the 2016 Olympics with a time of 21.79 representing South Africa.

2014-15: Named to the Pac-12 All-Academic Second Team…Won a Pac-12 title in the 50 free with a time of 18.95…At NCAA Championships, he tied for third in the 50 free with his season-best time and took sixth in the consolation final of the 100 breast with 52.64…Earned All-America Honorable Mentions honors in the 200 free relay, 200 medley relay, 400 free relay and 400 medley relay…At Pac-12 Championships, he also finished second in the B final of the 100 breast and first in the B final of the 100 free, earning a “B” cut…Had the fastest time on the team in the 50 free (18.91) and 100 free (42.90)…Took first in the 50 free at the Texas Invitational, sixth in the 100 free and second in the B final of the 100 breast.   

2013-14: Won a NCAA title in the 50 free with a time of 18.95…Earned All-America honors in the 50 free, 200 free relay and 200 medley relay…Also earned honorable mention All-America honors in the 100 breast and 400 free relay…Clocked in with a winning, school-record and Pac-12 meet record time of 18.80 in the 50 free at the Pac-12 Championships...Was also part of the winning and Pac-12 meet record 200 medley relay team…Also was part of a Pac-12 title in the 400 medley relay team.

At Indian River College: Helped Indian River State College to win the national title in both seasons he was on the squad…Was a five-time All-American…five-time national record holder…Was named NJCAA Swimmer of the Year…Owns the Junior College National Record holder in both the 50 and 100 freestyles…Holds the school record in the 50 free, 100 free, 200 free and 200 medley relay…Was the 400 free relay swimmer of the year and the Florida Athlete of the Year…Was part of three relay NJCAA records.

Personal: Son of Steve and Vanessa Tandy…Has a brother, Robert and a sister, Sarah…Plans to major in Management Information Systems at the U of A.

Brad Tandy’s Start Is Absolutely Ridiculous

If you follow NCAA swimming by now you have seen the University of Arizona’s Brad Tandy launch himself off the starting blocks like an intercontinental ballistic missile. His explosive start and underwater dolphin kick into a devastating breakout landed him on the top of the podium at the NCAA Division 1 championships last year, as well as winning him a handful of Pac-12 titles.

To dominate on the NCAA level is one thing, but Tandy showed that he will be a force to be reckoned with in the long pool as well.

At the recent Santa Clara Grand Prix, Tandy, swimming next to 100m freestyle Olympic champ Nathan Adrian, let his start do the talking when he exploded off the blocks and emerged visibly ahead of a field that was utterly and completely stacked.

You had 2000 Olympic champ in the event Anthony Ervin, Brazilian Bruno Fratus (who trains out of Auburn and at this point in 2015 has posted the world’s third fastest time in the event clocking a 21.74 at the Maria Lenk Trophy), the Russian lightening bolt Vlad Morozov (2nd in the world so far), Brazil’s Marcello Chierighini, and another speedy Russian, Nikita Lobintsev.Even though the field would reel him in, with Tandy placing fourth in a time of 22.28, you can’t help but feel awed at the sheer power he demonstrates over the first 25m of the race.

Tandy, who stands at 6’3 popped up and significantly ahead of Adrian, who has one of the most powerful starts in the business. Not too mention that Adrian has a 3-4 inch height advantage on the Wildcat, who is originally from South Africa.

Off the start you notice a couple things with Tandy:

• He pulls back slightly on the blocks, giving him some of the “slingshot” effect when he uses his arms to pull powerfully off the starting block.
• He gets a crazy amount of distance off the blocks.
• The coupling motion of his arms helps maintain his speed and power off the blocks/
• He uses the “flying mongoose” technique of bringing your arms around the side when aligning the body into a streamline for entry.
• He goes very deep on the entry. So deep that he disappears under the lane line.
• And he kicks all the way out to 15m (something that is not uncommon at the elite level, with the defending Olympic champ in the event and now short course world record holder in the event Florent Manaudou of France dolphin kicking all the way out the maximum distance allowed).

Tandy’s Start at the NCAA Level

Here is also another video from the Pac 12 championships, which Tandy won the 50 yard freestyle in a time of 18.80.

UPDATE:

Recently The Race Club, whose head coach Gary Hall Sr. collaborated with us on our underwater dolphin kicking guide, posted an awesome video of Tandy and his start.

Tandy is filming a series of webisodes for The Race Club (click here to see their YouTube channel–tons of great stuff), and they uploaded the slow-motion rocket launch of Tandy’s start below.

The swimmer next to him is Mike Alexandrov, two-time Olympic breaststroker, who we have worked with a few times on guides for breaststrokers (improve your breast kick, breaststroke pull, and a couple breaststroke sets).

In a similar situation is the above video, Tandy explodes out to an early lead with a dominant start/breakout and turn.

Here is the race video from the Santa Clara Grand Prix: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AL8z4p0g_Y&t=1s

Read the article here.

South African Olympic Finalist Brad Tandy Announces Retirement

11 April 2022

South African Olympic Finalist Brad Tandy Announces Retirement

Brad Tandy, a two-time Olympian from South Africa, declared his retirement this weekend at the South African Swimming Championships.

Tandy, 30, swam the 50 free at the meet in Gqeberha, just over a week after taking part in the TYR Pro Swim Series in San Francisco. He finished second in the race to 17-year-old Pieter Coetzee, clocking in at 22.49.

 For one of the last generation’s stars of South African swimming, it served as a passing of the torch to a rising star.

“I think it’s time for the next chapter of my life,” Tandy told Swimming South Africa after the swim. “To be honest, the little boy from Ladysmith, what I have achieved has surpassed all goals I set out. I could have retired happy after winning my first national championships. I’ve just been blessed and blessed in the sport but I just feel like all the stars are aligning, I’m getting married, job, right age – it feels good. There are some great up and coming swimming so I’m leaving it in good hands.”

Tandy finished sixth in the men’s 50 freestyle at the 2016 Rio Olympics, the swim for which he is best known. A hyper specialist sprinter in the 50, he won a bronze medal at the 2018 Short-Course World Championships in Hangzhou and a silver at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. He added medley relay bronze at the latter. Tandy won two relay golds and bronze in the 50 at the 2019 African Games.

Tandy qualified for his second Olympics in 2021, tying for 24th in the 50 free in Tokyo.

Tandy has settled in Arizona, where he was a star at the University of Arizona after two years at Indian River Junior College in Florida. A four-time All-American for the Wildcats, he won the NCAA title in the 50 free in 2014, in a tie with Kristian Gkolomeev, and the Pac-12 title in the event in 2015.

Tandy was pleased to get a farewell closer to his native Ladysmith.

“It’s quite an emotional one for me,” he said. “They always say the starting is the hard part, but they don’t really give you a heads up on the finishing. I was going to be happy with whatever I swam, just to be back here in South Africa, seeing the crowd. I didn’t win it, but I still got the applause … it means a lot to me.”

Commonwealth Games Medalist Brad Tandy (RSA) Retires From Swimming

On the penultimate night of competition at the 2022 South African Championships, 30-year-old sprinter Brad Tandy announced his decision to retire from swimming.

Arriving in Gqeberha from the United States just this morning, Tandy earned a time of 22.49 to snag silver in the men’s 50m freestyle behind 17-year-old Ryan Coetze who touched in 22.34 for the win.

Coetze had already qualified for the World Championships and Commonwealth Games earlier in the meet with his 200m free relay leadoff of 22.15.

After the race, Coetze revealed the words Tandy spoke. “He said: ‘Well done, it’s all yours now. You take it from here. So that was a great moment to share with him.

“To win it is great and obviously to race Brad was awesome, and very emotional to see him finishing. He’s one of the greatest guys in the world of swimming. He’s an amazing swimmer and I really got to know him in the village in Tokyo – he was like a mentor to the younger guys on the team, so it was great to experience the Olympics with him,” Coetze said.

Tandy’s career-key moment came when he placed 6th in the men’s 50m freestyle final at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.

Tandy is also a Commonwealth Games multi-medalist, having earned silver in the 50m freestyle in 2018 on the Gold Coast while also scoring bronze on South Africa’s men’s medley relay.

More recently, Tandy too part in season 2 of the International Swimming League (ISL) as a member of the Tokyo Frog Kings.

Prior to his professional career, Tandy was a highly-successful student-athlete at the University of Arizona. In his Wildcat days, Tandy was a 4-time All-American, earning an NCAA title in the 50m free in 2014.

On his decision to retire, Tandy said of today’s race, “It’s quite an emotional one for me. They always say the starting is the hard part, but they don’t really give you a heads up on the finishing.

“I was going to be happy with whatever I swam, just to be back here in South Africa, seeing the crowd. I didn’t win it, but I still got the applause… it means a lot to me.”

A resident of Arizona, Tandy said, “I think it’s time for the next chapter of my life.

“To be honest, the little boy from Ladysmith, what I have achieved has surpassed all goals I set out. I could have retired happy after winning my first national championships. I’ve just been blessed and blessed in the sport but I just feel like all the stars are aligning, I’m getting married, job, right age – it feels good. There are some great up and coming swimming so I’m leaving it in good hands.”

Swimmer of the Meet - Female

The Vorgee female Swimmer of the Meet Trophy is awarded to the swimmer with the highest points at the conclusion of the National Championships

•  2024 Jeanette Brits (Manly Masters)
• https://mastersswimming.org.au/about/msa-awards/ 

Jane Figueiredo is best known for coaching 2020 Tokyo Olympics men's 10 m synchro champions Tom Daley and Matty Lee, and the 2000 Sydney Olympics women's 3 m springboard champions Vera Ilyina and Yulia Pakhalina.

Jane was born in Salisbury, the capital of Rhodesia in December 1963, to a Portuguese father and a British mother, when Rhodesian diving was experiencing a golden era of local dominance. Hers was a very sporting family, and her father was a motor racing driver on the local southern African circuit in the 1960s and '70s. As a child, she was a competitive swimmer, but she found this "boring" so she decided to switch to diving.

Following in the footsteps of a number of other Rhodesian divers like Debbie Hill, Antoinette Wilken and David Parrington, she moved to the University of Houston (UH) in the early 1980s to join their established diving program.

Figueiredo represented Zimbabwe at the 1982 World Aquatics Championships in Ecuador, where she finished in 21st position in the women's 3 m springboard competition. However, for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics she decided to switch allegiance to Portugal – she had Portuguese citizenship through her father – as she had lost touch with the Zimbabwean Aquatic Federation. Figueiredo competed in the 3 m springboard competition but was eliminated after the preliminary round and finished in 22nd position. She went on to represent Portugal again in the 1986 World Aquatics Championships in Spain, where she again competed in the women's 3 m springboard, finishing 23rd.

Figueiredo graduated from UH in 1987, with a BA in Hotel and Restaurant Management. In 1988 she became an assistant diving coach at Houston, and in 1990, she was promoted to head coach for the Houston Cougars diving team, a position that she was to hold until 2014. During her tenure at UH, she was awarded the NCAA Diving Coach of the Year four times, and members of her team won a total of 51 CSCAA All-America honours and eight NCAA championships

Jane Figueiredo and Dave Parrington after her 2nd place finish on 1 meter at 1985 NCAAs

In October 2013, Figueiredo was approached by British Diving's performance director, Alexei Evangulov, to invite her go to London to give a presentation to the British diving team. During that visit she met with British diving prodigy, Tom Daley, who at the time was planning to move to London from his native Plymouth, and was looking for a new coach.

He offered Figueiredo the job, and visited her in Houston later in 2013 to discuss the move further. At that time, Daley had already won a bronze medal at the 2012 London Olympic Games, but Figueiredo saw that he had greater potential. Figueiredo moved to London and started working with Daley in January 2014. Since that time, Daley and his synchro partners – Daniel Goodfellow, Matty Lee, and Noah Williams – have won bronze at the 2016 Rio Olympics, the gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and silver at the 2024 Paris Olympics, respectively, all under the guidance of Figueiredo

Borrow Street pool in Bulawayo

1989 Dave Parrington, Gary Watson, Antoinette Wilken and Jane Figueiredo in Houston.

Dave Parrington, Jane Figueiredo, Rhodesian diving coach Ron Ward

Annette Cowley was a Western Province swimmer from Bellville, where she attended Settlers High. Annette started swimming at age 9 when she was spotted by local coach Tom Fraenkel. Although he was based some distance away in Constantia, Annette had the support of her parents who transported her to training every day.

In 1981 at age 15, she finished second in the 200 freestyle at the South African swimming championships in Port Elizabeth, and in 1982 won the event, and set a new SA record in the heats.

In 1983 she won 6 events at nationals, helped perhaps by the retirement of backstroke and freestyle champion Karen van Helden. Erwin Kratz also won six events at the nationals in 1983, following Karen Muir, who achieved the same in 1969, and Paul Blackbeard in 1975.

After swimming nationals, she found time to compete in the South African still water life-saving championships, where she was awarded Springbok colours after setting a new world record in the 200m obstacle race.

In 1984 she again won 6 events, and by 1985 she won a scholarship to swim at the University of Texas, under US Olympic coach Richard Quick. 

Competing at the Texan International Invitational on 14th January 1985, Annette finished second in the 200 freestyle. By the 1st March, she became the first Texas swimmer that year to qualify for the NCAA Championships - in the 500 yards freestyle. Annette was a key member of the University of Texas team that won the NCAA Championships from 1985 - 1988. 

In 1985 Annette applied for British citizenship, through her mother's ancestry, and in May 1986, after assurances from the British Amateur Swimming Association, she swam at the British nationals, winning the 100 and 200 freestyle events. She was eligible for selection to the British to compete at the 1986 Commonwealth Games to be held in Glasgow in July.

Annette was selected, but then the anti-South African lobby threatened to boycott the Games if she and runner Zola Budd was allowed to compete in the Games. The matter went all the way to the British High Court, which ruled against the two South African athletes. Annette, already installed in the athlete's village, was forced to leave and later to sit and watch the swimming from the stands. 

At the 1987 NCAA Championships Anntee was a member of the Texas 800 yard freestyle relay that won gold. In 1988 the Texas women's team made history when they won the NCAA title four years in a row - and Annette became an 9 times All-American in helping them achieve that. Annette stayed on at Texas, competing in the NCAA championships and finishing her BSc. degree, before returning home to Cape Town in 1988.  

When South Africa was re-admitted to world swimming in 1991 Annette decided to have one more go at making it to the Olympics. The first post-boycott nationals were used as the 1992 Olympic trials in Durban. Annette won second place in the 50 and 100 - both times to WP teammate Marianne Kriel - who was later to win a silver medal at the 1996 Olympic Games.

Kriel's time for the 100 broke Annette's SA record, set in 1984. Unfortunately for Annette - and the new post-SAASU selectors - two-second places at nationals was not enough to be selected for the first South African team to compete in the Olympic Games since 1960.

Annette re-appeared in the swimming press briefly when the Commonwealth Games were once again hosted by Edinburgh, in 2014. She was featured in a BBC documentary titled Boycotts and Broken Dreams.

Today Annette runs a business in Cape Town. Her involvement in swimming centres on her twin daughters Georgina and Olivia, who attended Herschel Girls High School and swam at Swimlab Aquatic Academy (2011-21). Olivia won the 50m butterfly at the SA championships in 2018 - at age 15. In 2022 both girls won scholarships to swim at the University of North Carolina. Olivia set a new SA record for the 50m backstroke at the 2023 South African Championships. 

‘I put on a brave face but I did cry’

July 13, 2014

The South African-born Annette Cowley has finally swum in the Edinburgh Commonwealth Games pool after her boycott pain of 1986

“THEY say water is a great healer,” notes Annette Cowley, having finally swum in the pool she hoped to compete in at the 1986 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh.

Today is the 28th anniversary, right down to the day of the week, that she was escorted from the athletes’ village by police officers after the Commonwealth Games Federation ruled the South African-born swimmer would not be allowed to compete for England.

She was a 19-year-old girl who became a political pawn, caught up in a boycott by 32 countries that saw the lowest turnout since the post-war Games of 1950 in response to the Thatcher government’s attitude towards apartheid.

Now a mum of three, Cowley returned to the pool with a BBC crew recently for a documentary that will be screened this week. It brought back all the old emotions — measures of bitterness, frustration, injustice — but also some belated catharsis for being unable to compete in her prime due to the country of her birth being a sporting pariah.

“It was kind of a strange day for me because we went to the pool and I felt very emotional when I walked in. My heart was racing, but it was wonderful because they actually cleared the pool for me and I had it all to myself. I swam and felt so calm.”

Cowley’s is a complicated story but one worth listening to. She followed in the footsteps of Zola Budd, also banned from Edinburgh in 1986, as a South African of English heritage who attempted to use it to circumvent the sporting boycott, but there is one key difference.

While Budd competed in the 3,000m for Britain at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, when she collided with Mary Decker, the home darling, and for South Africa at Barcelona in 1992, Cowley twice paid the price for her desire to compete on the world stage. She was not only excluded in Edinburgh but also from the South Africa team for the 1992 Olympics despite training hard to put herself in contention.

“I had quit swimming and was working full-time but when I heard South Africa had got back in I went to my boss and said, ‘listen, I have to give this a last shot, I really have to try and make this happen. If I can’t swim for England or Britain, I am going to try and swim for South Africa again’.

I went back and went to trials, probably did the best times I have ever done.” Despite them, Cowley feels the selectors were influenced not to pick her. She was to be punished again for what her critics claimed was adopting a flag of convenience.

“Politically, we’ve had the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa, but it has never happened for our sports people. I don’t think they realise how tough it is to train every day relentlessly to be at the top of your game and have those opportunities stripped away from you.” In 1986, her times in the English trials would have been good enough to take gold in Edinburgh.

She refuses to torment herself too much with what might have been but went along to watch the 100m freestyle final. “I just watched the 100m and then left afterwards. It was tough to deal with and I think enough was enough and I just needed to get out of there and have a change of scene. I had been through a lot. I did cry. I put on a brave face for the media, but sometimes I just shut the door or you take it out in the pool. It is easier to cry in the water.”

Her parents, Ron and Sue, then flew over from South Africa to support her at the centre of a media and political storm. Ron, a Cape Town doctor, who died 11 years ago, knew how many hours the youngest of his three daughters had poured into her dream. “He was so involved in my swimming and so passionate about it.

I trained on my own in the morning and my dad used to sit on the side and read the newspaper. It was freezing cold because it wasn’t heated. I would go in and turn blue and he’d say, ‘you can come home, you know’ and I’d say ‘no’. He was lovely to me.”

Sue has also passed away but kept meticulous scrapbooks of Cowley’s career and the traumatic summer of 1986. For years she couldn’t face the cuttings and the memories they invoked. “I put them in a cupboard and shut it.” Yet now she is planning a book and is glad they are there to help her with it.

She has one of the scrapbooks with her as we speak in a cafe in Edinburgh and it reminds you that this was front-page news back then, plus fodder for cartoonists and satirists inside as they showed Thatcher at odds with the Commonwealth leaders with Budd and Cowley in limbo between them. She became an unwitting and unwilling symbol of white South Africa.

“It was very hard to comprehend because nobody ever asked my personal views and opinions. I grew up in a very liberal English-speaking home and this just happened to me and I felt like an innocent victim. I just stood for a symbol of the white South African government at the time and it was also very confusing because I was being asked to do things like renounce my South African citizenship, but I was scared to do that because my family was back home and I didn’t want to be stopped from going back to see them.

It was extremely controversial and very difficult, initially, not having someone with me to help me through the process at such a young age. As a young girl, I was simply trying to get the exposure, get the competition, and maybe have the opportunity to win gold.”

Instead, her childhood dreams died on that Sunday morning in July 1986 when she was marched out of the Games village. “I don’t think anybody who has the opportunities that they have now would understand what we went through. I wasn’t exposed on an international level to anybody, to any of my heroes that I had read about in Swimming World magazine.

You did feel very isolated.” She wasn’t aware of apartheid growing up, living in a bubble well away from its many atrocities. “Where we went to school it was all white kids and now it is very different. My kids don’t know the difference between black, brown, or white, they really don’t, they are so integrated now, which is wonderful, and I feel quite sad that when I grew up in South Africa we never had that.” Her own children are strong swimmers.

“My son, who is 16, seems to prefer water polo and is doing really well. He seems more interested in swimming lately, but I am figuring that might be because there are some pretty girls at the pool. One of my twin daughters is doing really well and winning nationals in her age group. My other daughter is more into ball sports. They have to figure it out for themselves.”

She missed them during her trip to Edinburgh but it also gave her time to explore the city. “I never got to see how beautiful Edinburgh was — the history, the buildings — so this time round I have really taken full advantage. I have walked and walked and walked. There’s a lot of hills and steps.”

Yet it was the short flight down into the Commonwealth Pool at Meadowbank that was the most significant for her and, after a 28-year wait, that moment of calm isolation in its healing waters that followed.

1984 Springbok swimming team.

Coach Tom Fraenkel with star swimmer Annette Cowley