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SA bank on quartet for medal

2008-08-15 22:03
line

Beijing - South Africa will have one last shot at a relay medal on Sunday when Gerhard Zandberg, Cameron van der Burgh, Lyndon Ferns and Darian Townsend line up for the final swimming event of these Games.

That's after the quartet safely negotiated their way through the heats of the 4x100m medley at the Water Cube on Friday night.

The South Africans shattered the national and continental record, set at last year's world championships in Melbourne, on their way to fourth place in their heat in a time of 3:34.16. Freestyle leg swimmer, Townsend, who swam a speedy split of 47.96, believes they will have to take another two seconds off that time if they are to finish in the medals on Sunday, however.

"'We will definitely have to go a lot faster in the final. I think another two seconds off that would get us a medal but we have it in us. Whether we do it or not is the question. We've all got the potential to do it. We've just got to refocus and come back energised," he said after the heats.

Speaking about the race, he added, "A few of the guys like Gerhard and Cameron haven't swum for a couple of days so that was their first swim since Monday I think. But they did well and I just managed to hold on at the end there. I knew the Italians were coming up pretty fast on me. It was fun, we're in the final and now we have a day off on Saturday so we can rest up, reshave and come back to swim this final on the last day.

'There's a real big shot at getting a medal. There's a bunch of countries that are just behind the US. I think the US are just a little bit too strong but there's still second and third available so I think a lot of countries are going for that and that's why it was so fast tonight.

High spirits

"The last few days of the Olympics (swimming) is probably the easiest time to win a medal because people are tired and they want to go home so now is the time. We've got to dig deep and let all that hard training pay dividends."

The women's 4x100m medley team didn't quite manage to cash in on their heat on Friday. The team of Melissa Corfe, Suzaan van Biljon, Mandy Loots and Lize-Mari Retief finished sixth in 4:04.20 but were in high spirits after the race.

"I think we all tried hard. We've had a good meet. The girls have done personal best times in their races so we were going out there to have fun and enjoy it and unfortunately this time we fell a bit short and we didn't make it through to the final," said Loots afterwards.

Commenting on the foursome's new look with stick-on SA flag tattoos on each of their right cheeks, Loots said, "'I think the team's been lacking a bit in spirit. So we just went out there and tried to make ourselves feel like a team and enjoy it. Swimming is a very individual sport as it is and we had such a big team - it would have been nice if we all just felt a little bit closer and supported each other a little better."

No other South African swimmers made it past their heats on Friday. Despite shooting off the blocks with the quickest reaction time in her heat, Retief could only manage an eighth place in 25.44 seconds in the women's 50m freestyle.

In the 1500m freestyle, Troyden Prinsloo - swimming in the same heat as Australian Grant Hackett, who is aiming to make history at these Games with a third gold in the event - battled to keep up with the pace. He finished seventh in his heat in 15:12.64, reaching the wall over 33 second after Hackett.

"That was a horrible swim. They went out a little too fast for me and I battled. I'm pretty disappointed," he said afterwards. "I knew it was going to be fast but I just didn't have the speed to go out with them. I'm not sure what's next now. I'm just going to have a bit of a break, then get back into it and see what happens."

- SAPA

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