Botswana swimmers qualify for Youth Olympics

Thato Kala | Thursday March 20, 2014 17:57

The duo was at the just-ended South Africa Level Three Age Group Championships in Cape Town where they won medals and qualified for Nanjing 2014.

Van der Colff made five finals at the four-day championship and got two gold - one in the 100m backstroke during which he achieved a B standard Youth Olympic qualifying time.

Ruele made three finals and got a bronze and silver for the 100 metres backstroke. She got a B Youth Olympic qualifying time for the 50m freestyle. Their coach, Darrell Morton believes if the two can compete so strongly in South Africa, the Africa Youth Games should be much easier for them.

The two swimmers are currently at the High Performance Centre in Pretoria preparing for the Africa Youth Games that start on May 22 in Gaborone. They will take part in the South African National Championships in three weeks time. The duo hope to post A standard times for the Nanjing Games to be held in August.

Ruele, a former Maru-a-pula School student, goes into the Gaborone Africa Youth Games with vast experience having taken part in the African Junior Swimming Championships in Port Harcourt, Nigeria in 2011.

Meanwhile another Botswana Africa Youth Games hopeful, Andre van der Merwe, knocked 12 seconds off his 400 freestyle time in South Africa.

The other swimmers in the Botswana team, Kgosi Molefinyane, Kitso Matija, Seabe Ebineng, Tanya Toth and Amantle Mogare get another preparatory opportunity this weekend in Johannesburg.

They take part in the Level Two South Africa Championships in Ellis Park Swimming Pool. The competition starts today and ends on Sunday.