Skip to main content
Champions, Karen Muir, Articles, Joan Harrison

Commonwealth Games

Posted in Champions.

Empire and Commonwealth Games Champions

South Africa competed in the Empire Games from 1930 until 1958, after which it left the Commonwealth. South Africa rejoined the Commonwealth after 1994, and its athletes competed in the Commonwealth Games since then. 

Olympic Games medallists are listed here.  

1930 - Hamilton, Canada (1)

1934 - London (1)

1938 - Sydney (4)

1950 - Auckland (4)

1954 - Vancouver (14)

1958 - Cardiff (2)

1994 - Victoria (2)

1998 - Kuala Lumpur (2)

2002 - Manchester (21)

2006 - Melbourne (12)

2010 - Delhi (29)

2014 - Glasgow (24)

2018 - Brisbane (17)

2022 - Birmingham (11)

  • Oonagh Witsitt

    Winner of the Women's Diving at the 1930 Empire Games in Hamilton, Canada, Oonagh is the only diver from South Africa to have won a major international title.

    →

  • Molly Ryde

    Molly competed at the 1934 and 1938 Commonwealth Games, winning a silver medal in the relays at both events.

    →

  • Enid Hayward

    Enid was a Transvaal swimmer who won a silver medal at the 1934 Empire Games in Vancouver in the 4x110-yard freestyle relay.  Nothing else is known about her.

  • Carla Gerke

    Carla won two silver medals at the 1938 Commonwealth Games in Sydney - 220-yard breaststroke and 330-yard medley relay. She was born in Amsterdam, before emigrating to South Africa. She was dressmaker before she died in Ramsgate in 1999.

    →

  • Hazel Holmes

    Hazel, with Molly Ryde and Carla Gerke, won a silver medal in the 330-yard Medley Relay at the 1938 Empire Games held in Sydney.

    →

  • Terry Collard

    Terry hails from Pretoria and swam for Northern Transvaal. He was the only male swimmer selected to represent South Africa at the 1938 Empire and Commonwealth Games. He won the silver medal in the 110-yard freestyle at the 1938 Empire Games in Sydney.

    →

  • Jackie Wiid

    Jacobus Coenradus de Beer "Jackie" Wiid was a backstroke swimmer from Kroonstad . He won the 110-yard event at the 1950 Commonwealth Games in Auckland. In the 100m freestyle, he finished 5th. He also competed at the 1948 Olympic Games held in London, where he finished 6th  in the 100m backstroke. 

    →

  • Joan Harrison

    In 1950, aged 14, she won the 440 yd freestyle at the British Empire Games, beating the previous games record by 13 seconds and finishing 7 seconds ahead of other competitors, and was declared the outstanding woman swimmer of the games. She won two more gold medals at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games. She won a gold medal at the 1952 Olympic Games.

    →

  • Graham Johnston

    He won 2 gold and 2 silver medals in each of the 1950 and 1954 Commonwealth Games held in New Zealand and Canada, and represented South Africa in the Summer Olympics of 1952 held in Helsinki.

    →

  • Felicity Loveday

    Felicity was a swimmer from the University of Pretoria who won a gold medal at the 1954 Commonwealth Games in the 4x110-yard freestyle relay, with Joan Harrison, Maggie Petzer and Natalie Myburgh.

    →

  • Maggie Petzer

    At the 1954 Commonwealth Games in Vancouver Machadult 'Maggie' Petzer won two relay medals - gold in the freestyle relay and silver in the medley relay.

    →

  • Mary Morgan

    Mary "Sandy" Morgan was an Eastern Province swimmer before she moved to the Transvaal. She won silver in the 220-yard breaststroke at the 1954 Commonwealth Gamers in Vancouver.

    →

  • Peter Duncan

    In 1954 Peter was 2nd, behind his teammate Graham Johnston in the 1650-yard Freestyle. he also won a bronze medal in the 4x220-yard Freestyle Relay. He was one of 4 South African swimmers to win a scholarship to the University of Oklahoma in 1952. 

    →

  • William Steuart

    'Billy' Steuart finished 3rd in the 1954 Commonwealth Games 4x220 yards Freestyle Relay, with Dennis Ford, Graham Johnston, and Peter Duncan. In the 1958 and 1959 NCAA Championships he won and defended his titles for 440 yards and 1650 yards freestyle.

    →

  • Dennis Ford

    Like Joan Harrison, Dennis Ford came from East London, but attended King Edward VII High School (KES) in Johannesburg, where Cecil Colwin coached him.  At the 1954 British Empire Games he won a bronze medal in the 4x220 yard relay.

    →

  • Tich McLachlan

    Murray 'Tich' McLachlan won the bronze medal in the 1650-yard freestyle at the 1958 Commonwealth Games held in Cardiff.

    He swam at the 1960 Rome Olympic Games, where he finished 6th in the final of the 1500, in a time of 17:44,9 compared to his bronze medal-winning time at the 1958 Commonwealth Games of 18:19,2

    →

  • Peter Rocchi

    At the 1958 Commonwealth Games in Cardiff, Peter won a silver medal in the 220-yard breaststroke. 

    →

South African medal winners at the Commonwealth Games after readmission to international swimming in 1994.

  • Helene Muller

    An Olympian in 1996 and 2000, Helene won silver medals for the 100m freestyle and 4x100m freestyle relay at the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games.

    →

  • Hendrik Odendaal

    At the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, with Roland Schoeman, Lyndon Ferns and Ryk Neethling, Hendrik won silver in the 4 × 100 metre freestyle relay.

    →

  • Mandy Loots

    In 2002 Mandy won a silver medal in the 100m butterfly at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester.

    →

  • Lize-Mari Retief

    In the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, she tied for third place in the 50m butterfly, winning a bronze medal.

    →

  • Wendy Trott

    Daughter of Springbok swimmer Sue Dickie, Wendy won a silver medal at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, before winning the NCAA 1650 yards title for three years in a row.

    →

  • Troy Prinsloo

    He swam in the 1500 at the 2006 Commonwealth Games, finishing with a bronze medal. He swam the same race at the the 2008 Olympic Games, and the 10km marathon at the 2012 Games in London, finishing 12th. Troy's greatest achievement was probably winning the 1650 yards freestyle at the 2009 NCAA Championships

    →

  • Charl Crous

    Charl van Zyl Crous was the Captain of Swimming at Westville BHS in 2009. He is the current African Record Holder for the 200-meter Backstroke and won a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games in 2010, swimming the backstroke leg of the 4×100 medley relay.

    →

  • Heerden Herman

    At the 2010 Commonwealth Games in India, he won the silver medal in the 1500 meter freestyle and as a member of the 4X200-meter freestyle relay team which won the bronze.

    →

  • Gideon Louw

    Gideon Abraham Louw won three medals at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi - 50m freestyle and two relays.

    →

  • Jasper Venter

    Venter won a bronze medal, as a member of the South African team, in the 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India.

    →

  • Jean Basson

    Like Jan Venter, Jean won a bronze medal in the 4x200m freestyle relay at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi.

    →

  • Riaan Schoeman

    Riaan and his brother Henri Schoeman started swimming with coach Alidair Hatfield in Durban when he was 10.

    Riaan won bronze in the 400 IM at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi.

    →

  • Henri Schoeman

    Henri and his brother Riaan Schoeman started swimming with coach Alisdair Hatfield in Durban when he was 9.

    In 2016 he won a bronze medal for triathlon at the Rio Olympic Games. In 2018 he won gold at the Commonwealth Games.

    →

  • Kate Roberts

    Kate Roberts competed in triathlon at two Commonwealth Games, placing 16th in Melbourne in 2006 and winning a silver medal in the mixed relay team in Glasgow in 2014

    →

  • Gillian Sanders

    Triathlete 3 x Olympian, Commonwealth Games 🥈 World Cup 🥉, 8 x African Champion 🥇

    →

  • Richard Murray

    At the 2014 Commonwealth Games, he won a silver medal in the mixed-team relay and a bronze in the men's triathlon.

    →

  • Graeme Moore

    Graeme swam at the Commonwealth Games at Delhi in 2010, where he was part of the bronze medal-winning 4x100m freestyle relay team. 

    →

  • Sebastien Rousseau

    In the 2010 Games held in Delhi Sebastien won two relay medals - silver and bronze. At the 2014 Commonwealth Games, Sebastien four bronze medals, of which two were for individual events.

    →

  • Devon Myles Brown

    At the 2014 Commonwealth Games held in Glasgow, Devon anchored the 2x200 freestyle relay with the fastest split of 1:47,61, to help South Africa win a bronze medal.

    →

  • Dylan Bosch

    In 2014 Dylan was part of the bronze medal-winning 4x200 freestyle relay at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games.

    →

  • Brad Tandy

    At the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Brisbane, Brad Tandy finished second in the 50m freestyle in 21:81, winning the silver medal. He placed third in the 4x100 medley relay at the Commonwealth Games, along with teammates Chad Le Clos, Cameron van der Burgh and Calvyn Justus.

    →

  • Ryan Coetzee

    Ryan is a butterfly specialist who won a bronze medal in the 2018 Commonwealth Games when he finished third behind Chad le Clos in the 50m butterfly.

    →

  • Calvyn Justus

    Calvyn is a backstroke specialist who placed third in the 4x100 medley relay at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, along with Chad Le Clos, Cameron van der Burgh and Brad Tandy.

    →

  • Tatjana Schoenmaker

    Double Olympic gold medallist Tatjana was the first able-bodied female swimmer to win Commonwealth Games gold since South Africa’s readmission to international sport when she won the 100m breaststroke at the 2018 Games in Brisbane. 

    →

  • Leith Shankland

    Leith competed at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games. He won a bronze medal in the 4 x 100-metre medley relay and a silver in the 4 x 100m freestyle relay. He also qualified for the 100m freestyle final.

    Leith won the non-company relay division at the 2015 Midmar Mile together with Paul Achterburgh, Clayton Jimmie and Chad Ho.

    →

  • Caydon Muller

    This boy from Bernoni won the silver medal in the 4 x 100 metres freestyle relay at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

    →

  • Clayton Jimmie

    Clayton Jimmie won two relay medals at the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

    →

  • Hits: 3843

Matthew Clay

Posted in Champions.

Matthew Clay

Matthew Clay was born in Nelspruit on the 27th of October, 1982 to British parents. He emigrated to Wales at age 6,  where he swam with the British sprint team working in Swansea under Bill Pilczuk, the former world champion.

On the 17th March, 2006 Matthew pipped Liam Tancock to win the men's 50 metres backstroke final at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.

Clay won the gold in a time of 25.04 seconds, just 0.06 ahead of Tancock, who went into the final as the favourite after just missing Thomas Rupprath's world record of 24.80 in Thursday's semi-finals.
South Africa's Johannes Zandberg finished third in 25.16 to add a bronze to the gold he collected in Thursday night's 4x100m freestyle relay.
Clay, who was born in South Africa but raised in England, is a team-mate of Tancock (left) at England's Loughborough University. Tancock held the world record in the 50-metre backstroke (long course) for almost a decade.
  • Hits: 1006

Glenn Snyders

Posted in Champions.

Glenn Snyders

Glenn Andrew Mark Snyders was born on 7 April 1987 in Klerksdorp. His parents, Barry and Sue, moved from South Africa when their son was 12 and settled in England, where he attended Milverton House School in Nuneaton. It was here that Snyders really started swimming. "A teacher said I had a natural breaststroke kick, just the movements of it. I was able to grasp them very quickly. Out of the four strokes I was just good at breaststroke."

The family then moved to Auckland in 1999, where he swam with the North Shore Swimming Club and was the 2011 New Zealand Swimmer of the Year. After 12 years at the club he moved to California to swim under coach Dave Salo at the University of Southern California. 

He won the silver medal in the 50 m breaststroke at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in a time of 27.67 seconds. 

Snyders is also the first man in New Zealand to swim the 100 breaststroke in under 1:00 - 59,78 at the 2012 Olympic Games. 

He also competed at the 2006 Commonwealth Games and the 2008 Summer Olympics. In the latter, he swam the breaststroke leg for the New Zealand team which finished fifth in the final of the Men's 4 × 100 metre medley relay.

Glenn also competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in the 100 m and 200 m breaststroke and the 4 x 100 metre medley relay. 

In 2024 he still holds the New Zealand records for the 50, 100, and 200m breaststroke, in both longcourse (LC) and shortcourse (SC).  With fellow South African and Western Transvaler Corney Swanepoel (Potchefstroom), he was also a member of the New Zealand team which set the national record for the 4×100m medley relay, at the 2009 FINA World Championships held in Rome. 

  • Hits: 1334

David Parrington

Posted in Champions.

David Parrington

David Neale Parrington was born on July 28, 1955, in Wallasey, Merseyside, Great Britain. Like other athletes in this section, he had a successful career in South Africa, before emigrating to start a new successful career in another country. 

His father was appointed pool superintendent at the Mabelreign Municipal Pool in Salisbury, Rhodesia in February 1959, David where he attended Mount Pleasant High School. David participated in swimming, water polo, and diving, in which he excelled. He represented Rhodesia in diving competitions against South Africa. After independence was achieved in Zimbabwe, David also competed in the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow.

After finishing high school, he spent four years in the BSAP, before getting a scholarship to the University of Houston, in 1978. David became the diving coach at Houston, until 1990, when he moved to the University of Tennessee, where he is still the Head diving coach in 2024.

Tennessee divers during the Parrington era have competed at the Olympics, World Championships, World University Games, World Diving Cup, Pan American Games, the Commonwealth Games, and the African Games. During the 1999 and 2000 SEC championships meets, Parrington coached Gabi Chereches to an SEC Commissioners Trophy, awarded to the swimmer or diver with the highest point total at the meet.

David coached Zimbabwe's Olympic team in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics as well as the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Other Olympic service includes two stints (1998, 2008) as a judge at the U.S. Olympic diving trials and a selector for the USA Olympic team selection camp hosted at the Allan Jones Intercollegiate Aquatic Center. He also served the United States diving team as a coach for the 1997 World Cup qualifying and championships rounds and was rewarded with the USA Diving Coaches Award of Excellence. Parrington was named the head coach of Team USA at the 2014 Fina World Series in London, England.

His mother was British Olympic swimmer Lillian Preece, and his grandfather was International Swimming Hall of Fame Honouree (ISHOF) Frank Parrington.

His father, also known as Frank Parrington, was a swimming coach, with Lillian, in Rhodesia and South Africa. His brother Martin Parrington won Springbok colours playing water polo for South Africa.

1974 Rhodesian and SA divers: Les Smith, Don Liebermann, Adrienne Wilson, Gina Lawrie (SA), Dave Parrington, Jennie Lundie (SA), Joe Thewlis (SA), Martin Lundie (SA).

  • 1969 Parrington In UK

  • 1970 Rhod Herald Parrington

  • 1970 Rhod Dive Team

  • 1970 Rhodesian Diving Team

  • 1974 Test 1

UT diving coach’s grandfather holds record in former Olympic event

Aug 15, 2016

 coach Dave Parrington

KNOXVILLE – Some Olympic events are more popular than others, while some are just odd. One of those is the plunge for distance. Athletes don’t complete in it at the games anymore, but UT’s head diving coach says his grandfather holds the world record.

Plunge for distance was an Olympic event in only one summer: 1904.

“The competitor simply dives in off the side of the pool, and then floats and glides in a streamline body position as far as they can in one minute,” said UT head diving coach David Parrington.

It’s all done while holding your breath. Parrington says his grandfather holds the world record. It was achieved in 1933 at 86 feet and eight inches, farther than the distance of UT’s pool. Some of UT’s swimmers decided to try it out, but only went about half the distance.

“He had great breath control, but also important to work on the angle of entry,” said Parrington.

His grandfather, Frank Parrington, could even go father if allowed to glide for more than a minute.

Frank Parrington was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1986 and won several championships in Britain.

“He has always had legendary status within our family. He was a World War I and World War II veteran, so he was always a hero in our minds,” said Coach Parrington.

Now his grandson is trying to carry on his tradition as a diving coach at UT. David Parrington says he has tried the plunge for distance several times. Just a few years ago, he was able to glide to 75 feet in one minute.

Frank Parrington (GBR)

Honor Pioneer Diver (1986)

FOR THE RECORD:  Frank Parrington, “Plunger” extraordinaire, was a Liverpool policeman, wounded and gassed in WWI and killed in WWII during the blitzkrieg.  Between wars he was the all-time greatest plunger, setting the World Record several times and winning 11 British National Championships between 1926 and 1939.

The Plunge for distance is how far a man can propel himself from a dive in 60 seconds.  Parrington’s greatest rivals were Teddy Abrams (USA) and Arther Beaumont (GBR) but neither approached Frank Parrington’s world Records.  The event was finally discontinued in 1947.  Parrington’s World Record of 86 ft. 8 inches set in 1933 has never been broken.  The second, third, and fourth best distances were also his, 85 ft. 10 inches in 1927, 85 ft. 4 inches in 1929, and 85 ft. 6 inches in his first championship plunge in 1926. 

He won British Championships in 1926, 1927, 1928, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1938 and 1939.  Beaumont beat him in 1929, 1930, 1931, and 1932 then Frank came back never to lose again.

Parrington died during the Liverpool Blitz on 8 May 1941, at age 42.

Lillian Preece Parrington

Lillian Preece (1 April 1928 – July 2004) was a British swimmer. She competed at the 1948 Summer Olympics and the 1952 Summer Olympics.

She also represented England and won a bronze medal in the 440 Yard Freestyle Relay at the 1950 British Empire Games in Auckland, New Zealand. She won the 1952 ASA National Championship 220-yard freestyle title.

Lillian was a swimming coach in Rhodesia and South Africa.

David Parrington and Debbie Hill  - Rhodesian champion divers at the University of Houston, 1979.

Jane Figueiredo and coach Dave Parrington.

She is well-known in Great Britain as Tom Daley’s coach, having guided the platform maestro to Olympic bronze in 2016 and his second world title in 2017. Few, however, may remember that 20 years ago Zimbabwe-born Jane Figueiredo steered two other great divers to the very top: Russians Vera Ilyina and Yulia Pakhalina, who won the synchro springboard final at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

  • 1966 Jerry Emmerton Marty Parrington Dave Parrington

  • 1986 Don Liebermann Antonette Wilken Dave Parrington In Vancouver Canada

  • 1989 Dave Parrington Gary Watson Nonnie Wilken Jane Figueiredo In Houston In About 89

  • Don Liebermann And Dave Parrington Jesters Diving Club Salisbury

  • 1974 Mount Pleasant High School 1st Team Water Polo winners of the Bruce Kennedy Memorial Trophy and Crusader Shield in 1973 and 1974

    1974 Mount Pleasant HS 1st Team Water Polo Winners Of The Bruck Kennedy Memorial Trophy And Crusader Shield In 73 And 74

  • 1970 Rhodesian Diving Team

  • Hits: 2552

More Articles …