Rebecca Meder had to wait a week before she dived in for her first swim of the Paris Olympic Games but made sure she’d get a second one by booking a spot in the 200m individual medley semifinals on Friday night.
Heading in as the 16th fastest qualifier after swimming 2:11.96 in her morning heat, Meder did exceptionally well to better her time in the evening, finishing fifth in her semifinal in a new national record of 2:10.67.
That saw her finishing 11th overall and was not quite quick enough to see her through to Saturday’s final.
Speaking after the race, the 22-year-old said: “I think there's only a certain percentage of people who can say they got a PB at the Olympic Games and, not that I was ever going to bring this up, but just under three and a half months ago I was sitting in the hospital with a ruptured appendix, and now I'm 11th in the world at the Olympic Games.
“I think I set myself those scary dreams and I can either look back and go, ah, I never achieved it, or wow, I did everything I possibly could have done to try and get that dream. And it just makes me so hungry. I was seeded 20th coming in and to finish 11th overall with a PB in a semifinal, it's not quite the result I was wanting, but at the same time I couldn't have asked for more.”
Earlier in the day, four-time Olympic medallist Chad le Clos’s campaign at the Paris Games came to an end after the veteran finished second in his 100m butterfly heat in 52.24 seconds and 24th overall to miss out on a semifinal spot.
Le Clos picked up an injury just a few weeks before the Games but admitted that making the final was always going to be tough.
“I want to make it very clear on the record, on my best day in my best time, that would have been hard,” he said. “I would have probably made the final sure, but it would be a hell of a swim for me to get on that podium, so I knew I was up against it.
“I still believed. Hey, I'm a crazy little boy… I thought I was going to get up there,” he added.
“I thought I would make the top 16 and have a grace of God lucky touch, lucky everything, make top eight and even more luck for the final would have been unbelievable. But look, it wasn't meant to be. Sometimes these things happen for a reason.
“I want to be competitive, make no mistake. I didn't come here for the t-shirts. This was not good. I was half expecting this because of outside circumstances. But, hey, if everything was sweet, I'd be in tears right now for not making it back [to the semifinals]. I'm okay right now. It is what it is.”
Competing in the same heat was Matthew Sates, who was disappointed to finish in seventh place in 54.53 seconds and 35th overall.
“I don't know what to put it on, to be honest, I can't really blame anything,” said Sates afterwards.
“I'll just try and look ahead more after the games, but I have to make some changes and stuff.”
There are two more days of swimming action to come in Paris, but no more South African swimmers competing.
Next up will be Julia Vincent in the 3m springboard diving, which gets underway with the preliminaries next Wednesday, 7 August.
Image: Rebecca Meder
Photo credits: Anton Geyser/TeamSA
Supplied.