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Gideon Louw

Gideon Louw

Gideon hails from Pretoria, where he graduated from Hoërskool Menlopark in 2005. He swam with the Pretoria Aquatic Club. He competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing and at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.

At the 2010 Commonwealth Games in India, Gideon was a member of the South African relay team that a silver and a bronze, while he also finished fourth in the 100m freestyle.

He also took 4 medals at the 2011 All-Africa Games in Maputo, Mozambique.

Gideon won a scholarship to swim in the United States. Louw began his collegiate career at Indian River State College in Ft. Pierce, Fla., where he was a seven-time NJCAA champion in 2008, winning the 50 free, 100 free, 200 free, 200 free relay, 400 free relay, 800 free relay and 400 medley relay. For his efforts, he was named NJCAA Swimmer of the Year.

He earned a degree in exercise science from Auburn University in 2011 and a master's degree in exercise physiology from Florida State in 2014.

After Minnesota Gideon was appointed as an assistant swimming coach at Auburn University, and in August 2024 he moved to the University of Pittsburgh, as associate head coach.

Gideon Louw is married to Shanda Louw, also a former Division I swimmer.

Personal Best Times

Event Course Time Pts. Date City (Nation) Meet
50m Freestyle 50m 21.92 868 2 Aug 2012 London (GBR) XXX Olympic Games
100m Freestyle 50m 48.29 913 31 Jul 2012 London (GBR) XXX Olympic Games
200m Freestyle 50m 1:57.49 654 10 Feb 2012 Missouri (USA) Grand Prix
50m Backstroke 50m 28.97 537 15 Dec 2004 Kings Park KZN Level 2-3 Provincial ...
100m Backstroke 50m 1:04.25 517 15 Dec 2004 Kings Park KZN Level 2-3 Provincial ...
200m Backstroke 50m 2:26.49 445 15 Dec 2004 Kings Park KZN Level 2-3 Provincial ...
50m Butterfly 50m 27.31 542 8 Apr 2005 East London South African Championships
100m Butterfly 50m 1:02.14 503 15 Dec 2004 Kings Park KZN Level 2-3 Provincial ...
100m Freestyle Lap 50m 47.65 - 9 Oct 2010 Delhi (IND) XIX Commonwealth Games

South Africa's Gideon Louw gestures prior to compete in the heats of the men's 100-metre freestyle swimming event in the FINA World Championships at the indoor stadium of the Oriental Sports Center in Shanghai on July 27, 2011.      AFP PHOTO / MARK RALSTON (Photo credit should read MARK RALSTON/AFP via Getty Images)

Former South African Olympian adjusts to Gophers assistant job

November 12th, 2014

At the highest level of his swimming career, Gideon Louw represented South Africa as a freestyle swimmer in the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics.

Now, nearly two years removed from his last Olympics meet, Louw is a first-year assistant coach at Minnesota, joining the Gophers in early July. Senior C.J. Smith said the team was unsure what Louw would be like as a coach, but Smith has already noticed Louw’s impact. “After one of the practices, there must’ve been a flame lit under him or something because he was really energetic on the pool deck. I think that’s what some [of the] guys need, that one [person] to be encouraging with a little edge,” Smith said. Beginnings to his success Louw started swimming at age 7 when his mother wanted him to get out of the house and be active. His passion for the sport didn’t start at that young age, however.

It wasn’t until high school that Louw began to take swimming seriously. “I was around 15 or 16 when the South African relay in the [2004] Athens Olympics broke the world record in the 400 [meter] free relay,” Louw said. “I was like, ‘Wow, what are these guys doing? That looks pretty cool.’”

Watching the relay team, which trained in Arizona, sparked Louw’s interest in training in the United States. Those aspirations became a reality when Indian River State College in Florida called him and gave him the opportunity to swim.

“There was a guy with my same last name [who swam] a few years back around 1994 [for Indian River],” Louw said. “He was from South Africa, too, and he told the coaches about me, [since] he kept up with swimming in South Africa.

It turned out that [Indian River] thought that we were cousins or something like that, so they called me and said that they heard about me through him and that they were really interested in me.” Louw ultimately decided to compete for Indian River, where he became a seven-time National Junior College Athletic Association champion in 2008. After a successful two years at the community college, Louw transferred to Auburn to finish off his junior and senior years of eligibility.

During his tenure at Auburn, he helped his team claim its eighth NCAA men’s swimming and diving championship as a junior. As a senior, he took third at the NCAA championships in the 100-yard freestyle, and he placed second in the 200-yard medley relay, the 200-yard freestyle relay and the 400-yard medley relay. From Olympian to college coach Louw’s first experience at the Olympics was in Beijing in 2008. He qualified for the 50-meter freestyle, where he finished 12th overall.

But his Olympic venture didn’t stop in Beijing. In 2012, Louw qualified for the London Olympics in three events: the 50-meter freestyle, the 100-meter freestyle and the 100-meter freestyle relay. He finished ninth, tied for ninth, and fifth in those events, respectively. After competing in the London Olympics, Louw returned to the U.S. and graduated from Auburn with a degree in exercise science.

However, instead of continuing his swimming career, he decided to put that aside and pursue a master’s degree in exercise physiology. Louw chose to complete his master’s degree at Florida State University. “Florida State had a very good program in exercise physiology,” Louw said. “[But] I also based [my decision] on where I [could] get a graduate assistant position. I knew the head coach there very well … at the time, and he was kind enough to take me on as a graduate assistant on the team.” It took two years for Louw to complete his master’s program, but it seemed like perfect timing for him as an assistant coaching position became vacant at the University of Minnesota.

A new home in Minnesota Louw went through a formal application process with Minnesota like many other hopeful assistant coaches, but he was part of a select few who were in a final committee search list. “We had a searching committee set up,” Gophers head coach Kelly Kremer said. “Gideon’s name came through that whole process as one of the finalists that we brought in to interview.”

Louw said he expected the selection committee to be intimidating, knowing that Minnesota is a prestigious program and that it expects the best interviewees. “I was very surprised by how welcoming everybody was,” Louw said.

“[Everyone] was eager to get to know me and [wanted] to see if I would be a good fit for them just as much as I wanted to see if [Minnesota] was a good fit for me. I was just really intrigued by the sense of family that they have here.”

It didn’t take long for Minnesota to reciprocate that positive feeling, hiring Louw to the position a little more than a week after the interview. “We were all really impressed with his level of professionalism and maturity,” Kremer said. “He has experienced the highest level of this sport, being an Olympian and a national champion at Auburn and [at] Indian River community college. We were really impressed with him and [the things that] he can bring to our program.”

Louw said he lucked out in his swimming career with all of the successful programs he has joined. “I met a lot of people along the way that [have] helped me grow as a swimmer and grow as a coach, and as well as a person,” Louw said. “It was a long journey, but [so far] it’s a great journey.”

Former Auburn national champion joins swimming staff

17 May 2018 AUBURN, Alabama —

Auburn hired one of the last swimmers to be part of a national championship at Auburn to join Gary Taylor's new staff on the Plains. Gideon Louw, who was a part of Auburn's 2009 as a junior, was announced Thursday as the third member of Taylor's swimming and diving staff at Auburn. Louw has been an assistant coach at Minnesota for the last four seasons, including two as associate head coach.

The Gophers finished 15th nationally as a program at the NCAA Championships in the spring. “I want to thank Gary for the opportunity to come back to the Plains,” Louw said statement. “I’m looking forward to working with this very motivated staff to get Auburn back to where it deserves to be.” Louw coached the sprint freestyle group and was also a key recruiter on the Minnesota staff. “Gideon has been a member of the Auburn family and we are really excited to have him back on the Plains,” Taylor said in a statement. “He has extensive experience working with sprinters at Florida State and Minnesota. He has done a tremendous job developing athletes and has coached an Olympic gold medalist and a Big Ten record holder. He understands the Auburn philosophy, the culture and what it means to work hard and develop champions.

He is going to be a tremendous addition and I think he and Duncan (Sherrard) moving forward will rebuild the speed and power program at Auburn.” Louw was an Olympian for South Africa in 2008 and 2012. He holds the eighth-best times in the 50-meter free and 100-meter free at Auburn. He also a part of the school record times for the 200 and 400 free relay teams. Louw won three national titles in the 200-free relay and the 200- and 400-medley teams in 2009. The 200 medley relay team set the NCAA record with a time of 1:14.08. “It is a big honour to come back to Auburn,” Louw said. “I feel like I am picking up where I left off.

As a former athlete at Auburn, I am excited for the opportunity to, once again, put in hard work to help realize the success that the Auburn Swimming and Diving program deserves.” Louw began his coaching career at Florida State as a graduate assistant before his four-year stint at Minnesota. He coached sprinter Bowen Becker to a Big 10 championship in the 50 free. “I’d like to thank head coach, Kelly Kremer, and the Minnesota staff for the great opportunity and experience that I have had at Minnesota,” Louw said. “Working with them has been a privilege and I have learned a great deal the past four years.”

Louw was inducted into the NJCAA Hall of Fame in 2014 and into the Indian River State College Hall of Fame in 2013. He graduated with a degree in exercise science from Auburn in 2011 and later picked up a master’s degree in exercise physiology from Florida State in 2014. “Auburn has been a central anchor in my life,” Louw said. “My wife Shanda and I got engaged on Pat Dye Field at Jordan-Hare Stadium, and this exciting announcement comes along on our fourth wedding anniversary, making today even more special.”

Olympian Gideon Louw Joins Pitt Swimming & Diving Program as Associate Head Coach

8/27/2024

PITTSBURGH – Former Olympian and Olympic head coach, Gideon Louw, has been named as the associate head coach of the Pitt men's and women's swimming and diving program, as announced today by head coach Chase Kreitler.  

"We are incredibly excited to add Gideon to our staff as an associate head coach," said Kreitler. "It is clear that Gideon's mentorship-based coaching approach and focus on positive relationships with student-athletes will fit right in with our coaching staff at Pitt." 

Louw has spent the past six years at Auburn University as an assistant coach for the swimming and diving program, where he helped mentor 32 All-Americans. In addition, two of Auburn's women's relay teams broke numerous SEC and school records with the women's 400 free relay claiming the SEC title in 2019.

Over the past two seasons, Louw coached the Auburn men's team to two top-12 finishes overall at the NCAA Championships, including a 10th place showing in 2023. Last season, he collaboratively led the Tigers women's team to a 19th place finish at the 2024 NCAA Championships.

In addition to his coaching success at the collegiate level, Louw has also made an impact on the international stage. He served as the head coach of Guatemala's national team at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo and was a two-time U.S. national team coach. Louw coached a contingent of five Olympians from various countries in Tokyo and produced multiple Olympic Gold Medal winning athletes while with the U.S. national team.

"His experience working with Olympians, NCAA All-Americans, SEC Champions, and Big Ten Champions will make an immediate impact on the performance of our team as we continue to build the program and seek to move up nationally," Kreitler added. "Gideon will primarily serve as the lead coach with our sprint athletes and have a significant impact on our relays as we look to build on the momentum we've started the past two years. We are excited to welcome Gideon, his wife Shanda and their two kids AJ and Lyndee to Pittsburgh!"

Prior to arriving at Auburn, Louw helped engineer a turnaround for the Minnesota men's relay teams in 2016 as an associate head coach. After sending no relays to the NCAA Championships in 2015, the Golden Gophers sent four in 2016 and then five in 2017 and 2018, with the 200-medley relay scoring in both 2016 and 2018 and the 400 free relay team scoring in 2017.

Louw went to Minnesota after serving two seasons as a graduate assistant at Florida State where he provided planning and implementation of workouts and provided analysis and instruction of swimming techniques, among other duties. While at FSU, Louw helped the Seminole men to a 14th-place finish at the 2014 NCAA Championships.

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Felicity Loveday

Felicity Loveday

Felicity won a gold medal at the 1954 Commonwealth Games in the 4x110-yard freestyle relay, with Joan Harrison, Maggie Petzer and Natalie Myburgh.

She was a swimmer from the University of Pretoria. Her first medal at the South African Championships was at the 1953 nationals in Johannesburg, where she finished second to Joan Harrison in the 100 and 200-yard freestyle events.

At Port Elizabeth in 1954 she was third in the 100, behind Harrison and newcomer Maggie Petzer. In the 200 she was 4th, also beaten by Natalie Myburgh. These were the four swimmers who won the gold medal in 1954.

In 1955 nationals were at Hillcrest in Pretoria, where Felicity again finished second to Joan Harrison in the 110-yard freestyle, and 4th in the 220-yard event. Her name does not appear in the records after that.

Winners of womens 440-yard freestyle relay winning team Felicity Loveday, Maggie Petzer, Natalie Myburgh and Joan Harrison.

Joan Harrison congratulates Maggie Petzer for beating her at nationals in 1954, with Felicity Loveday on the right.

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Dylan Bosch

Dylan Bosch

Dylan Bosch was born on 17 July 1983 in Johannesburg, where he attended Crawford College in Sandton. He won a scholarship to swim at the University of Michigan in 2012.

At the 20014 Commonwealth Games in Scotland Dyland won bronze in two relay events - 4x200 freestyle and 4x100 Medlay.

Dylan was one of 5 former Crawford College pupils swimming at the 2016 Rio Olympics - with Cameron van der Burgh, Jarred Crous, Michael Meyer and Michelle Weber.


27 July 2014 (L-R) Bronze medallists Dylan Bosch, Chad le Clos, Sebastien Rousseau and Myles Brown of South Africa pose during the medal ceremony for the Men's 4 x 200m Freestyle Relay Final at Tollcross International Swimming Centre during day four of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.,

Personal best times

Event Course Time Pts. Date City (Nation) Meet
50m Freestyle 50m 24.26 640 17 Jun 2010 Pescara (ITA) 47. Trofeo 7 Colli - Internazionali ...
100m Freestyle 50m 52.07 728 19 Jun 2010 Pescara (ITA) 47. Trofeo 7 Colli - Internazionali ...
100m Freestyle 25m 55.70 521 6 Sep 2008 Germiston South African Short Course ...
200m Freestyle 50m 1:49.36 811 2 Aug 2013 Irvine (USA) US Open Championships
200m Freestyle 50m 1:49.36 811 8 Apr 2014 Durban South African Championships
200m Freestyle 25m 2:07.59 472 4 Sep 2008 Germiston South African Short Course ...
400m Freestyle 50m 4:05.86 717 20 Jun 2014 Santa Clara (USA) Grand Prix
50m Backstroke 25m 36.91 214 30 Jul 2005 Johannesburg CGA: Regional Junior ...
100m Breaststroke 25m 1:23.68 288 30 Jul 2005 Johannesburg CGA: Regional Junior ...
200m Breaststroke 50m 2:23.93 662 8 Jun 2011 Canet-en-Roussillon (FRA) Mare Nostrum
50m Butterfly 50m 25.09 699 19 Jun 2010 Pescara (ITA) 47. Trofeo 7 Colli - Internazionali ...
50m Butterfly 25m 25.81 598 16 Oct 2009 Durban FINA: World Cup No 1 - 2009 Series
100m Butterfly 50m 53.40 794 3 Jun 2016 Indianapolis (USA) Arena Pro Swim Series
100m Butterfly 25m 54.55 671 17 Oct 2009 Durban FINA: World Cup No 1 - 2009 Series
200m Butterfly 50m 1:56.92 840 7 Apr 2014 Durban South African Championships
200m Butterfly 25m 2:01.54 679 16 Oct 2009 Durban FINA: World Cup No 1 - 2009 Series
100m Medley 25m 57.86 617 16 Oct 2009 Durban FINA: World Cup No 1 - 2009 Series
200m Medley 50m 1:59.23 874 11 Apr 2014 Durban South African Championships
200m Medley 25m 2:06.63 648 17 Oct 2009 Durban FINA: World Cup No 1 - 2009 Series
400m Medley 50m 4:26.12 756 29 Jun 2013 Montreal (CAN - QC) Coupe Canada / Coupe Quebec
50m Freestyle Lap 25m 31.37 - 30 Jul 2005 Johannesburg CGA: Regional Junior ...
100m Freestyle Lap 50m 51.07 - 17 Aug 2010 Singapore (SGP) I Youth Olympic Games
200m Freestyle Lap 50m 1:48.71 - 27 Jul 2014 Glasgow (GBR) XX Commonwealth Games
100m Breaststroke Lap 50m 1:04.41 - 18 Aug 2010 Singapore (SGP) I Youth Olympic Games
100m Butterfly Lap 50m 52.94 - 12 Aug 2016 Rio (BRA) XXXI Olympic Games

Bosch D MNCAA SD 1250 1024x681

Dylan Bosch Puts Scare Into NCAA, U.S. Open Record In 200 Fly During Big 10 Prelims

ANN ARBOR, Michigan, March 1. THE final prelim session at the Big 10 men’s swimming and diving championships set up exciting races in just about every event. For the first time at this meet, the Michigan Wolverines did not dominate in qualifying as the top seed in the events, posting only the fastest time in the 200 fly.

That top seed went to Dylan Bosch, who was the top swimmer in the collegiate standings in the 200 fly coming into the meet with a 1:41.01 from December’s USA Swimming nationals. Bosch swam a 1:40.37 in prelims to solidify his place at the top of the ranks. It’s also a meet record, surpassing his own 1:41.18 from last year. Tom Shields’ NCAA record of 1:39.65 could be put on notice in tonight’s finals. It should be noted that Shields also tied Michael Phelps’ U.S. Open record when winning the NCAA title last year, but with Bosch hailing from South Africa, the shared American record is not in jeopardy.

Bosch was under record pace at the 100-yard and 150-yard marks today, posting splits of 47.53 and 1:13.27 to Shields’ 48.04 and 1:13.79. Bosch likely took his foot off the gas in the final 50 yards, posting a 27.10 to fall 1.5 seconds off the 27.54 he split in the third 50 yards.

 

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DYLAN BOSCH BREAKS U.S. OPEN RECORD IN 200 YARDS BUTTERFLY

April 03rd, 2014

After the 2014 Men’s NCAA Championship, there were lots of great candidates for HardCore Swim of the Week. Arizona’s Kevin Cordes was his usual unbelievable self in the breaststrokes (and had his 50.04 in the 100 breaststroke been .05 faster, he probably would have won this award).

But we chose Michigan’s Dylan Boschand his 200 fly U.S. Open Record, because of who’s record he broke.

When Bosch won the 200 fly in 1:39.33, he broke the record co-held by two swimmers that we know match up with the best in the world. The old record of 1:39.65 was co-owned by Tom Shields from 2013, and Michael Phelps from 2010.

Shields showed shortly after breaking that record that he was one of the best short course butterfliers in the world between the World Short Course Championships and the FINA World Cup circuit. Though his long course still wouldn’t put him in ‘legendary’ territory, his short course butterflying makes him one of the best in the world. Michael Phelps is, well, Michael Phelps – the best 200 butterflier in history, and it’s not even close.

At any rate, Bosch’s swim electrified swim fans even back in his native country of South Africa, where he was featured as front-page news. There weren’t many places even in the U.S. where a Phelps-record-breaking swim earned that kind of mainstream attention.

After the disaster that was 2013 for South African swimming, the community there seems to be re-energized and revitalized ahead of next week’s Commonwealth Games/Pan Pac Trials thanks in part to Bosch’s swim.

Wolverines’ Dylan Bosch Named Michigan Male College Athlete Of The Year by Detroit Athletic Club

May 04th, 2015

https://swimswam.com/wolverines-dylan-bosch-named-michigan-male-college-athlete-of-the-year-by-detroit-athletic-club/

University of Michigan junior Dylan Bosch has been named Michigan Male College Athlete of the Year by the Detroit Athletic Club (DAC).  This makes four years in a row that a Michigan Wolverine male student-athlete has taken home the honours, as Bosch follows wrestler Kellen Russell (2012) and graduated simmer Connor Jaeger (2013, 2014).  Former Michigan swimmer Davis Tarwater also was bestowed the honour back in 2006.

The South African Bosch was a key factor in the University of Michigan men’s swimming program’s success this past season, which included the squad winning its fifth consecutive Big Ten title as well as a third-place finish at the NCAA Men’s Championships.

Individually, Bosch earned five-time Big Ten champion honors, as well five-time NCAA All-American status.  For his efforts, Bosch was named 2015’s Big Ten Swimmer of the Year and Big Ten Swimmer of the Championships.   Over his career, Bosch has earned one national title (200y butterfly in 2014) and is an 11-time NCAA All-American.

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Dylan Bosch's biography at the University of Michigan

He is from Johannesburg, South Africa. Born July 17, 1993 to parents, Leon and Annelie Bosch, he attended Crawford College, Sandton before joining the Michigan squad under Head Coach Mike Bottom. He is enrolled in the School of Kinesiology, studying as an open major. Bosch is the defending 2014 NCAA DI champion in the 200 butterfly, a race in which he shattered the NCAA, NCAA Championship, U.S. Open, and University of Michigan records. The NCAA and U.S. Open records were previously held by Michael Phelps and Tom Shields. Bosch was the no. seven recruit in the class of 2012 — he initially verbally committed to LSU, but he re-committed to Michigan just a few days later. He came into Michigan primarily known for his butterfly swimming, but his strength in the IM events has proven true — he’s consecutively finished in the top eight at the NCAA Championships. He was recently awarded the 2015 Big Ten Swimmer of the Year.

University of Michigan
2012-2013
In his first year at Michigan Bosch came out charging and finished the season as a three-time NCAA All-American. He finished third in the 200 butterfly, sixth in the 200 IM and seventh in the 400 IM. He was also named Big Ten Freshman of the Year after earning the Big Ten Freshman of the Week Award six times.

2013-2014
Bosch’s sophomore season was dominant, which included a national title and multiple record-breaking performance in the 200 butterfly, and a sixth and seventh place in the 200 IM and 400 IM. After the 2014 Men’s NCAA DI Swimming Championships, Bosch walked away as a six-time NCAA All-American.

2014-2015
In December 2015 SwimmingWorld declared Bosch one of five men to watch at the 2014 USA Swimming Nationals, where won the 200 butterfly and finished in the top three in both IM events. At the NCAA Championships Bosch finished sixth in the 400 IM, fifth in the 400 IM and placed third in the 200 butterfly in a heat stacked by Texas. He was a member of the 800 freestyle relay that finished fourth.

International Competition
Representing South Africa, Dylan Bosch has competed on the international scene. In summary, Bosch is an 11-time South African Junior National Medalist. In 2010 he swam at the Youth Olympic Games, and in 2011 he won a bronze medal in the 200m butterfly at the South African Senior National Championships. In the same year, he competed at the FINA World Junior Championships, finishing sixth in both butterfly distances.

At the 2012 South African Olympic Trials, Bosch touched the wall in second place in the 100m butterfly. Recently he won bronze medals in relay events at the 2014 Commonwealth Games and won the 200m butterfly at the 2014 South African National Championships.

Bronze medallists (L-R) Sebastien Rousseau, Dylan Bosch, Chad le Clos and Devon Brown of South Africa pose after the medal ceremony for the Men's 4 x 200m Freestyle Relay Final at Tollcross International Swimming Centre during day four of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games on July 27, 2014, in Glasgow, Scotland.

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Devon Myles Brown

Devon Myles Brown

Myles William Brown was born on 21 May 1992 in Kloof, and he attended the Highbury Preparatory School and Kearsney College in Hillcrest. He swam under coach Graham Hill at Seagulls SC in Westville.

At the 2014 Commonwealth Games held in Glasgow, Devon anchored the 2x200m freestyle relay with the fastest split of 1:47,61, to help South Africa win a bronze medal. This, and breaking Ryk Neethling's South African 400 and 1500m freestyle records count as his most memorable moments in swimming 

He competed at the 2014 World Short Course Swimming Championships, the 2015 World Championships in Kazan, and the 20016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

At the 2016 Summer Olympics, he competed in the 200 m freestyle and 400 m freestyle events. In the 200 m freestyle event, he finished 13th in the heats with a time of 1:46.78 and qualified for the semifinals where he finished 12th with a time of 1:46.57 and did not advance to the final.

In the 400 m freestyle event, he finished 12th in the heats with a time of 3:45.92 and did not qualify for the final.

The 4×200 m freestyle relay team which finished 10th in the heats and the 4×100m medley relay team finished 13th in the heats and did not qualify for the final.


(L-R) Bronze medallists Dylan Bosch, Chad le Clos, Sebastien Rousseau and Devon Brown of South Africa pose during the medal ceremony for the Men's 4 x 200m Freestyle Relay Final at Tollcross International Swimming Centre during day four of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games on July 27, 2014, in Glasgow, Scotland.

2012 KZN Awards evening - with Seagulls SC head coach Graham Hill

2016

Myles Brown trained really hard last year. He was eyeing individual medals in the swimming pool at both the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and the Fina short-course world championships (a 25m event) that took place in Doha, Qatar, in December.

When neither materialised, he was really disappointed – so much so that he decided to take a break from swimming. “The pressure and expectations [from within myself] got the better of me,” he tells me at a coffee shop in Westville, Durban. “I didn’t achieve what I wanted to do and it was quite a big disappointment for me. Straight after Doha, I took one and a half months off swimming.”

Brown spent that month surfing, playing golf and doing a lot of thinking. “A break is obviously not advisable for a swimmer, but for me it was necessary – to figure out why I was doing what I was doing and to regain my love and passion for the sport.”

The break seems to have paid off for the 22-year-old, if his performances at April’s South African National Aquatic Championships in Durban are anything to go by.

Brown dominated the freestyle events at the King’s Park swimming pool, speeding to gold in the 100m, 200m, 400m and 800m freestyle races. On the first day of the championships, he set a new South African 400m freestyle mark of 3:46.08, breaking a record set by Ryk Neethling in 1999. Four days later, Brown broke the South African 800m freestyle record set by Troyden Prinsloo in 2009.

Beating Chad le Clos

In between he caused an upset, beating Olympic gold medallist Chad le Clos in the 200m freestyle final. How did that make him feel? “He’s a great racer; he’s one of the best swimmers in the world. It’s kind of special to have someone like that in the swimming pool that you can race and train with,” said Brown. He and Le Clos are coached by Graham Hill.

“To beat him was great; it’s a step in the right direction. Racing can go anywhere – you never know what’s going to happen on the day. Fortunately this time I got the better of him, but who knows? On the day it can go either way.”

Brown’s times in the 200m, 400m and 800m saw him qualifying for the Fina world long-course championships – which will be held in Kazan, Russia, later this year – in all three events.

When I point out that although he doesn’t have a Wikipedia page dedicated to him (yet), his name frequently featured on newspaper street posters around Durban during the championships, he grins broadly. “It’s been a nice response after the SA champs,” he says. “I’m still fairly new to the international scene. I only started making the senior teams in 2012.

“I wouldn’t say I’m one of the big names in SA swimming, but hopefully in the new year I can be one of them, along with Chad le Clos and Cameron van der Burgh.”

Brown seems to be a modest person. Although he says he wasn’t an especially good swimmer at primary school level, he was offered a swimming scholarship at Westville Boys’ High School – widely believed to be Durban’s premier training ground for schoolboy swimmers.

However, his parents wanted him to give equal attention to his academic performance, so he chose to accept a scholarship at Kearsney College, a private school situated midway between Durban and Pietermaritzburg.

Gap year

“I would get up at 4:30am and go for training, then go to school till 2:30pm, then head off to afternoon training,” he recalls. “By the time you came home it would be 6pm – but from a young age, my parents instilled in me some core values like determination and always putting in 100%.”

The perseverance paid off and he matriculated with six distinctions before registering for a BCom degree in 2011. At the end of the year, he and his parents decided it was time for him to take a gap year so that he could focus on getting to London for the 2012 Olympics.

But it was not to be – Brown didn’t qualify for London; something he considers a blessing in disguise. “I don’t think I was mentally ready. I was very new to swimming on an international stage. I didn’t focus on the negatives. I stayed at home and watched the Olympics, and we had a very good swimming team.

“That was one of the turning points in my swimming career. After that, I really picked up my effort and ended up qualifying for my first world short-course event in Turkey.”

In 2008, as a 16-year-old, Brown had watched his hero Michael Phelps reign supreme in the pool at the Beijing Olympics. “It was truly inspirational to watch him,” he says. “I’ve always wanted to go to the Olympics and compete. I think it’s a great honour, and the pinnacle of a sportsman’s career.”

Could Rio 2016 be the realisation of a long-held dream? He smiles. “It’s been a goal. I won’t say I get up every day and think of it, but I just want to try to have a really good year this year, and carry that momentum on to the Olympics next year.”

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