After sinking at Beijing, SA has new hope

Swimming has been South Africa's most bankable Olympic sport since their readmission at Barcelona in 1992. Eight of their 19 medals in the Rainbow Nation era have come in the pool.

Of their four gold medals, two were claimed by breaststroke legend Penelope Heyns at Atlanta in 1996, and one by the 4x100m freestyle relay quartet of Roland Schoeman, Lyndon Ferns, Darian Townsend and Ryk Neethling, who broke the world record at Athens in 2004. But the 2008 Olympics were a massive disappointment for the South African swimmers. While they managed to break 18 national records - four of which still stand— in Beijing, they didn't win a single medal at the Games.

Perhaps because of this, swimming in South Africa has seen a drop in corporate sponsorship over the last four years, causing the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) to appeal for more funding.

When help came calling, it wasn't quite in the form that SASCOC may have expected. Twelve years ago, Charlene Wittstock was part of South Africa's women's 4x100m freestyle relay team, which finished fifth in the Sydney Games. Wittstock is now Princess Charlene, married to Prince Albert of Monaco. When she came to know of the swimming team's difficulties, Wittstock offered to host them in Monaco, and take care of their food, accommodation and training facilities. With their preparation taken care of, the swimmers will head to London aching to return South Africa to their former place among the sport's elite.

Much of the country's hopes will reside in the highly rated duo of Cameron van der Burgh and Chad Le Clos. Van der Burgh, 24, holds three breaststroke world records, and is one of the major contenders in the 100m breaststroke, where he will look to knock Japan's Kosuke Kitajima off his long-held perch.

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