Olympic swimming star Cameron van den Burgh will swim in the aQuellé Midmar Mile for charity. Photo: cameronvandenburgh.com/Gameplan Media
Pietermaritzburg – The aQuellé Midmar Mile has received a huge boost with the confirmation that Olympic gold medallist Cameron van der Burgh will participate to raise money for charity.
Van der Burgh is the fastest man ever over 50 and 100 metres in the breaststroke, owning the world records in both long course and short course swimming pools. He captured the Olympic title in London in the 100 metres with a world record time of 58.46 seconds.
Midmar Mile race director Wayne Riddin, who was an assistant swimming coach with the South African team at the London Olympics, said he was thrilled to have Van der Burgh on board.
“Our big drive this year is with the Pink Drive and cancer. The Cancer Association will be at the Midmar Mile with the Pink Drive, so what we thought of doing was to highlight the performance of Cameron at the Olympic Games last year, because I think it was a bit watered down by Chad le Clos’ performances.
“Cameron actually had the performance that set the tone for the rest of the Olympics, so I felt I wanted to show what he’s done for swimming and we’ve put him in an event in which he will swim the whole race breaststroke and raise funds for the Cancer Association.
“We want to let the people know, the 30 000 watching the Midmar Mile, that this is our best performer from the Olympic Games.”
While Le Clos’ gold medal in the 200m butterfly was a triumph for its shock value, Van der Burgh’s came after a master-class of breaststroke swimming through the heats, semi-final and final.
In his first swim, in the heats, he broke the one-minute barrier, finishing three-hundredths of a second behind Daniel Gyurta of Hungary in 59.79 seconds.
Van der Burgh then lifted the level in the semi-finals, clocking an Olympic record 58.83 seconds to qualify 0.61 seconds faster for the final than the second fastest man.
With gold on the line, he once more rose to the challenge, touching the wall in a blistering world record of 58.46 seconds, almost half-a-second ahead of the second-place finisher, Christian Sprenger of Australia.
“It’s going to be nice to have him there. He hasn’t swum breaststroke over that distance before. I’m not even sure if he’s swum the event before,” said Riddin.
The aQuellé Midmar Mile takes place February 9 and 10.
