Sth Africa's swimming rise was "accidental"

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32304, 23 May 1970, Page 9

Sth Africa's swimming rise was "accidental"

QOUTH Africa’s meteoric ° rise in swimming over the last few years was partly “accidental,” the international coach, Mr C. Colwin, said in Christchurch lyAfter his country was excluded from the Olympics shortly before the Tokyo Games in 1964, competition had to be sought elsewhere so the national team toured overseas and teams from other countries visited South Africa. The sport was not given a chance to stagnate through lack of competition, and in fact the effect'of the Games ban was just the opposite. Swimmers received regular international competition, instead of only competing at the Olympic and Commonwealth Games every two years. The Transvaal province swimming team is officially coached by Mr Colwin for the national championships, and swimmers trained by him have been capped for South Africa on 26 occasions. Three of the swimmers Misses A. Fairlie, K. Muir, and N. Myburgh, have broken world records. Had his country not been excluded from the Olympics, the swimmers would have had a very good chance of

winning at least two gold medals. In a recent series against Australia, South Africa won two tests to one, a feat of which it is very proud, Mr Colwin said. In 1964, after the South African Swimming Union had adopted a policy of overseas trips, the national team competed in Britain and won nine of the II men’s titles. It repeated the performance the following year. Whep Miss Muir became the youngest swimmer to capture a world record in 1965, the “veld caught fire,” Mr Colwin said, and at the big carnivals around the country, crowds of 3000 were being turned away. In 1966 a national team toured France, the United States and Canada, and took two titles at a Los Angeles invitation meeting, also establishing two world records. Teams from Japan, Australia, the Netherlands and Canada had visited South Africa in recent years. Swimming had continued to develop to a very high level, and at present was the most popular sport in the country. It had taken the play away from Rugby in many respects, said Mr Colwin. A

recent survey showed that tennis and Rugby were the next most popular sports, respectively, after swimming. Age-group swimmers are having similar success to the seniors. Last year in Europe they gained most points at an international tourney, at Darmstadt. Mr Colwin said a recent age-group meeting in South Africa illustrated the depth in this section. In a long course pool in the under 10 boys’ 100 metres freestyle the winner recorded 65.8 sec and the third place-getter 68.4 sec. Winning times throughout the meeting were very encouraging, said Mr Colwin. Since he began coaching 25 years ago, his achievements, like those of his swimmers, have been considerable. He is a member of five committees of the International Swimming Hall of Fame in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and is an honorary member of several coaching associations around the world. He is also technical adviser on swimming to the Transvaal Amateur Swimming Association, and convener of the technical advisory committee. A book on coaching, written by Mr Colwin, was published last year, and he is now considering compiling another on swimming “down-under” Australia, South Africa and New Zealand. He was the first swimming director of the Murray Institute in Johannesburg, a $lOO,OOO philantropic foundation to promote swimming and tennis. (The first tennis director was C. Drysdale, the South African international.) Mr Colwin prefers coaching to lecturing and has had several lecture trips to the United States. He feels, however, that it is his duty to help the sport develop if he can, and spends considerable time with young coaches just starting out. He said he had valuable assistance when he began coaching.

On top of all these duties Mr Colwin still finds time to edit an international swimming magazine, and pursue his hobbies, portrait painting and studying all fields relative to his work.

Commenting on the New Zealand swimming team's chances of a medal at the Commonwealth Games, he said the best prospect was probably in the women's backstroke, but added he hated making predictions as they were so often unlucky.