Winning two medals at the African Senior Swimming Championships in Algeria was the breakthrough Ruan Breytenbach (Tuks) had set his sights on for some time.
He won a silver medal in the 400m individual medley as well as the 200m-butterfly. Those in the know are not surprised as it has been predicted for a few years already that Breytenbach has what it takes to become an excellent international swimmer.
For the 16-year old it proves that he is on track to try and qualify for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. However, the Tuks swimmer is also a realist.
“Having medalled at a senior championship is special, but a lot of hard work still awaits me before I can consider myself to be truly competitive in international swimming. I need to improve my time in the individual medley by about ten seconds and in the 200m-butterfly by five seconds. The times in my other events are also not good enough yet,” said the Grade 10-learner of the British Royal College.
Earlier this year during the South African Junior Championships he won nine gold medals and three silver medals. Apart from the 200m-butterfly and 400m individual medley Breytenbach considers the 200m-, 800m-, and 1500m freestyle as well as the 200m-breaststroke as events in which he is capable of excelling in the future.
One of Breytenbach’s outstanding qualities is his utter discipline. He wants to be the best, and he knows to do so means he has to put in many long hard hours of training. It is a challenge he relishes.
No wonder he considers the legendary Michael Phelps (USA) to be a role model. It is not just to do with the fact that Phelps won 28 medals at the Olympic Games or holds the record for winning the most gold medals at one Games. In 2008 in Beijing he improved Mark Spitz’s record of winning seven gold medals to eight gold medals.
What the Tuks swimmer admires about Phelps is the way he can keep his composure even if things tend to go wrong.
“During one his races at the Olympic Games Phelps’s goggles filled up with water. From a personal perspective, I find that to be irritating, and it would slow me down, but Phelps remained focused on what he needed to do. He did not only win but also set a world record. That is inspirational stuff.”
While still at primary school Breytenbach used to be quite fast on the athletics track as well. He often outraced recognised champions over the middle distances. Even though he enjoyed doing so, he admits that at times being quite stressed something that never happens when he is competing in the swimming pool.
Eventually, his decision was made easy as he was selected to compete at a national swimming and athletics championship and the dates clashed. For Breytenbach it was always going to be swimming as it is his real passion.
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