While the South African team returned with 28 medals from the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland, one sports club stood out for contributing more than half of these medals.

A total of 12 individual medals (five gold, five silver and two bronze) were won by Tuks swimmers, athletes and judokas at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games. Tuks swimmers also had a share in all the medals (five) won by Team SA in swimming relay events.

In addition, another Pretoria resident, Lara van Niekerk, also made her contribution with an individual gold and team bronze medal in swimming. She won gold in the women’s 50 m breaststroke and bronze in the women’s 4×100 m medley relay.

This statistic means that 18 of the 28 medals won by South Africans were due to the achievements of sports stars from the capital city.

This is an incredible performance from the Tuks sport stars, considering that the club’s combined medal tally at the previous two Games (Gold Coast in 2018 and Birmingham in 2022) was 19, including eight gold, six silver and five bronze.

Pieter Coetzé was definitely the big standout. He won all three backstroke events (50, 100, and 200m) and set a Commonwealth Games record in each. He came so close to breaking the world record in the 100m backstroke. His winning time in the 100m backstroke final was 51.77s. This is just 0.17s slower than Thomas Ceccon’s world record set in 2022.

With his “I swim to win” attitude, he also helped South Africa win a silver in the mixed medley 4x100m relay and bronze in the men’s 4x100m freestyle relay, as well as the men’s 4x100m medley relay. After two Games, the Tuks psychology student now boasts nine medals (four gold, two silver and three bronze).

Nathan Hendricks had the honour of winning South Africa’s first gold medal at the Games. The Tuks BSc Physics student did so in the 100m freestyle (S13-class). He also won silver in the 50m freestyle (S13).

It is interesting to note that, up until the Glasgow Games, South Africa’s women’s swimmers had won only one relay medal. That was in 2002 when they won silver in the 4×100 medley relay. Now, 24 years later, they have won two bronze medals. Erin Gallagher was a member of the team that finished third in the 4x100m freestyle relay and the 4x100m medley relay.

Gallagher, who graduated last year with a BSc in Geography and Environmental Sciences, has won five medals. She was second in the 50m butterfly, third in the 100m butterfly and was also part of the South African team that won silver in the mixed 4x100m medley relay.

Veteran Tuks swimmer, Kaylene Corbett, won the silver medal in the women’s 200m breaststroke.

Chris Smith and Georgia Nel are the other two Tuks swimmers who returned home with medals. They were both part of the mixed 4x100m medley relay team that won silver, while Smith also won bronze in the men’s 4x100m medley relay and Nel was part of the women’s 4x100m medley relay team, which also won bronze.

Danika Vyncke set an African record in the 50m freestyle (S13-class) and won silver.

– Tuks’ judokas have a proud tradition at the Commonwealth Games. Since 2014, they have won a medal every time. Glasgow was no exception. Timothy Meeuswen won silver in the men’s u.81kg division and Donne Breytenbach bronze in the women’s u.57kg division. This means that Tuks’ judokas can now boast seven medals at the Games in 12 years.

– South Africa has only won three medals in track and field athletics and the only local athlete to achieve this is Sinesipho Dambile from Tuks, who won gold in the men’s 200m sprint.

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