Breaststroke specialist Lara van Niekerk struggled to find the right words to describe the emotions she felt after defending her women’s 50m breaststroke title at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

Van Niekerk and her fellow swimmers received a warm welcome at OR Tambo International Airport on August 1 alongside the wheelchair basketball team after swimming contributed 22 of Team SA’s 28 medals.

Van Niekerk touched the wall in 30.43 seconds to retain the gold medal she won in Birmingham four years ago, finishing ahead of Australia’s Sienna Toohey (30.73) and Canada’s Sophie Angus (30.79).

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Breaststroke specialist Lara van Niekerk speaks to members of the media at OR Tambo International Airport after defending her 50m breaststroke title at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. #commonwealthtiktok #commonweathgames2026 #glasgowtiktok

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“I was really nervous before the race because my semi-final didn’t go as planned. Sienna qualified ahead of me, so I knew it was going to be a dogfight,” she said.

“I heard the whole team scream when I touched the wall. That’s one thing that will stick with me – all my teammates in the stands cheering us on. When I touched the wall, I didn’t even have to look at the board to know I’d won.”

Pieter Coetze led the charge for the swimming team with a backstroke clean sweep before adding three relay medals to finish with six medals, while Chad le Clos became the Commonwealth Games’ most decorated athlete with 21 career medals.

South Africa’s swimmers also rewrote the record books, with their haul of 22 medals surpassing the previous best of 16 achieved at the 2010 Games in New Delhi.

For the 23-year-old Van Niekerk, Glasgow marked a rewarding return after four of the toughest years of her career.

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She added the 4x100m medley bronze to her campaign, alongside the two gold medals she won in Birmingham, despite battling a series of setbacks since then.

The Pretoria swimmer underwent foot surgery after the 2022 Games, contracted glandular fever and suffered a herniated disc in her spine before dealing with further health complications.

Perhaps the cruellest blow came when an administrative error denied her the chance to compete at the Paris Olympic Games in 2024, leaving her questioning whether to continue with the sport.

“I took two months off, which was a forced break. It was a good break for me to realise that I’m not done with the sport yet. I’m still battling with health issues, but we’re working on them and will figure it out.

“I’m just happy that even though I wasn’t on top form, I still won a medal and defended my title.”

Van Niekerk, whose lifetime best of 29.72 seconds ranks her among the fastest women’s 50m breaststroke swimmers in history, said the Glasgow triumph has reignited her belief as she sets her sights on the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

“It was a big motivation for me to know that I’m still in the game. There was a time when I thought, ‘I’m not hitting the times’ and ‘I’m not fast enough for the rest of the world’.

“I think getting this medal on such a big stage and swimming 30.23 seconds in the heats shows that the training has been working. We have to figure out the other things.”

Also Read: Rees-Gibbs and Summersgill honoured to represent SA at Commonwealth Games