The curtain came down on the swimming programme at the African Games in Accra, Ghana on Wednesday with South Africa’s swimmers adding eight more medals to their haul – four of them gold.
Catherine van Rensburg was back on the top of the podium for her fourth individual gold medal of the championships after cruising to victory in the 800m freestyle.
The 19-year-old dominated the race from the start and steadily built on her lead to finish in 8 minutes 50.78 seconds – a full 18 seconds clear of her nearest rival, Lojine Hamed of Egypt who took the silver in 9:08.82.
Georgia Els collected her first individual gold medal of the meet in the 200m individual medley. She finished in 2:17.65, over two seconds ahead of Egypt’s Nour Elgendy.
Andrew Ross took silver in the men’s event, finishing in 2:03.26 with Algerian Jaouad Syoud taking gold in 2:01.44.
Caitlin de Lange secured a silver in the 50m freestyle final losing out to Egypt’s Farida Osman who took the gold with a new African Games record of 24.72 seconds. De Lange wasn’t far off, finishing second in 24.99.
Clayton Jimmie also missed out to an Egyptian who set a Games record in the men’s event, claiming the silver in 22.54 with Ali Khalafalla taking gold in 22.02 seconds.
There was bronze for Matthew Caldwell in the men’s 1500m freestyle after finishing in a time of 16:10.89 behind the Egyptian duo of Marwan Elkamash (15:39.07) and Ahmed Ali (15:58.23).
SA teams once again dominated in the relays with both the women and men storming to gold in the 4x100m medley relay to finish the evening on a high.
The women’s team of Tayla Jonker, Simone Moll, Hannah Mouton and Caitlin de Lange claimed victory in a time of 4:11.89, finishing well ahead of Egypt (4:17.81) and Algeria (4:25.69).
The men’s quartet of Jonah Pool-Jones, Petrus Truter, Jarden Eaton and Clayton Jimmie finished in 3:43.07 with Egypt second in 3:44.79 and Algeria third in 3:45.67.
That took the SA swimming squad’s total medal haul to 46 which included 17 golds, 16 silver and 13 bronze medals.
SA swimming medals at the African Games
GOLD (17)
Clayton Jimmie (100m freestyle), Caitlin de Lange (100m freestyle), Catherine van Rensburg (1500m freestyle), Simone Moll (100m breaststroke), Catherine van Rensburg (400m freestyle), Cailtin de Lange (50m backstroke), Jonah Pool-Jones (50m backstroke), Catherine van Rensburg (400m individual medley), Simone Moll (50m breaststroke), Catherine van Rensburg (800m freestyle), Georgia Els (200m individual medley), Mixed 4x100m freestyle relay (Cailtin de Lange, Georgia Els, Andrew Ross, Clayton Jimmie), Mixed 4x100m medley relay (Tayla Jonker, Petrus Truter, Jarden Eaton, Caitlin de Lange), Women’s 4x200m freestyle relay (Hannah Mouton, Leigh McMorran, Kate Meyer, Catherine van Rensburg), Men’s 4x100m freestyle relay (Jarden Eaton, Cameron Casali, Liam Vehbi, Jonah Pool-Jones), Women’s 4x100m medley relay (Tayla Jonker, Simone Moll, Hannah Mouton, Caitlin de Lange), Men’s 4x100m medley relay (Jonah Pool-Jones, Petrus Truter, Jarden Eaton, Clayton Jimmie)
SILVER (16)
Matthew Caldwell (800m freestyle), Leigh McMorran (200m butterfly), Hannah Mouton (200m freestyle), Georgia Els (100m breaststroke), Caitlin de Lange (50m butterfly), Tayla Jonker (200m backstroke), Matthew Caldwell (400m freestyle), Kate Meyer (200m breaststroke), Tayla Jonker (50m backstroke), Jarden Eaton (100m butterfly), Kate Meyer (50m breaststroke), Tayla Jonker (100m backstroke), Andrew Ross (200m individual medley), Caitlin de Lange (50m freestyle), Clayton Jimmie (50m freestyle), Men’s 4x200m freestyle relay (Andrew Ross, Tumelo Mahan, Cameron Casali, Matthew Caldwell)
BRONZE (13)
Liam Vehbi (200m butterfly), Catherine van Rensburg (200m freestyle), Andre Ross (200m freestyle), Jarden Eaton (50m butterfly), Helgaard Muller (200m backstroke), Hannah Mouton (400m freestyle), Cameron Casali (400m freestyle), Georgia Els (200m breaststroke), Andrew Ross (200m breaststroke), Kate Meyer (400m individual medley), Jonah Pool-Jones (100m backstroke), Liam Vehbi (400m individual medley), Matthew Caldwell (1500m freestyle)