Van der Burgh motivated to add another Games medal to collection
Cameron van der Burgh believes he has a good chance to successfully defend his title as Olympic champion in the 100m breaststroke.
Cometh the hour, cometh the man.
Until now this saying has been applicable to the swimming career of Cameron van der Burgh (Tuks/HPC). His 15 medals in ten years at the World Championships and the Olympic Games are proof of this.
Pushing himself to the limit and beyond when it really matters seems to come naturally to Van der Burgh.
With so many medals and magic moments to his credit it can easily be presumed that Van der Burgh might find it difficult to single out just one specific race, but surprisingly it is not.
“Winning the 100m-breaststroke at the 2012 Olympic Games in Rio in a world record time of 58.46s is without doubt one of the proudest moments of my swimming career. I would say it was a life changing moment.”
Just thinking back to that moment when he touched the wall to make South African swimming history, still brings a big smile to Van der Burgh’s face. It is this lingering memory that has been his main motivation to push himself to be at his best for when, on Saturday night just after eight, he will again line up to compete in the 100m-breaststroke.
The Tuks/HPC swimmer is driven to add another medal to his ever increasing medal collection.
“The fact that there is nothing higher to achieve does not mean that your hunger to win diminishes. The challenge for me is to see how many more races I can win before my career comes to an end.”
Apart from the 100m-breaststroke Van der Burgh will also compete in the 200m-breaststroke (9 August) and the 4x100m medley-relay (12 August).
Asked what he can remember about his gold medal performance in 2012, Van der Burgh said he went to the pool a little bit earlier.
“I was stretching and warming up while listening to some music when I became aware that my heartbeat was unnaturally high because of my excitement. Everything seemed to be racing at a hundred miles per hour.
“I had to stop what I was doing and force myself to calm down. Being in an Olympic final was just such a big thing. Listening to some John Legend music helped calm my nerves.
“I remember there being a medal ceremony just before we were due to race. As they handed the gold medal to the winner I remember thinking to myself that in five minutes time I could be a recipient of an Olympic medal myself. I immediately had to remind myself not to get ahead of myself but to live in the now and only focus on what I am able to control.
“The most important thing about winning an Olympic title is that it stays with you for life. World records get broken and sports fans don’t seem to really care who the world champions were. But when you win a gold medal at the Games you will be introduced as an Olympic Champion forever after.”
The Tuks/HPC swimmer realises he is in for a tough challenge. Only one swimmer has been able to successfully defend his Olympic 100m breaststroke title since the 1968 Games in Mexico. Japan’s Kosuke Kitajima won the gold medal at the 2004 Games in Athens as well as in Beijing in 2008.
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