By
Bryan Rosenbaum
Arizona Daily Wildcat
It wouldn't be entirely inaccurate to think that you're in South Africa watching the Olympic swim team while standing on the deck of the Hillenbrand Aquatic Center here in Tucson.
With two of the country's biggest medal hopefuls and two UA coaches who work with the team, South Africa owes a lot of its success to the University of Arizona and vice-versa.
Ryk Neethling, who graduated last May, was the Pacific 10 Conference Swimmer of the Year all four years he was at Arizona, and the Bloemfontein, South Africa, native won nine career NCAA individual titles.
His nine championships are the most in swimming school history, male or female, and the most by a student-athlete in the 103-year history of Arizona athletics.
Neethling will swim in the 1500, 400 and 200-meter freestyle events, plus the 4x100-meter free relay. He won the 400m and 200m free and finished third in the 1,500m free in the 2000 NCAA Championships.
Neethling has been to the Olympics before - in 1996, before his freshman year at Arizona, he finished fifth in the 1500m free and 10th in the 400m free.
"When it comes down to it, the Olympic Games are the same as a duel meet, Pac-10s or the NCAAs," Neethling says. "A lot more people are interested in the Olympics, but the fundamentals are the same - water, racing."
Neethling's Arizona teammate, Roland Schoeman, also swims for South Africa in the 50m and 100m free sprints. The junior from Pretoria tied the world record in the 50m free at the NCAA Championships last March with a 21.31, but it was on the short-course - 25-meters long. The Olympics are held on long courses, 50-meters.
"We don't really train together since he does sprints, but I got him to Arizona, so I feel some responsibility," Neethling says of Schoeman. "It's nice to have him here."
Neethling and Schoeman aren't alone in Sydney - UA head coach Frank Busch and associate head coach Rick DeMont are also coaching the South African team.
"Having Coach Busch and Coach DeMont here is awesome," Neethling says.
The four worked together at Hillenbrand during the summer with the rest of the Arizona swimmers who were training for the U.S. Olympic Trials. Busch and DeMont were training the American swimmers while Neethling and Schoeman trained on their own on the long course until the Trials ended and the coaches were able to devote more time to the duo.
Schoeman says the individual attention he received during the offseason - as opposed to during the season, when more than 50 UA swimmers hit the pool at once - has led to the most improvement in his swimming.
"It was pretty much me and Ryk on the deck working out on our own at the beginning," Schoeman says. "Over the summer, I've gotten a lot of individual attention. There's a lot more emphasis on your stroke technique now because you have to swim a lot quicker at the Olympics."
Training for the Games ended last week when the four men boarded an airplane for the long trip Down Under. Neethling has helped Schoeman adjust to the chaos that surrounds the Olympics, especially at the Olympic Village, where athletes have access to all the free food, music, videos, video games and massages they could ever want.
"I'm not phased by the hype that surrounds the Games," Neethling says. "Roland is a little awe-struck, and that is natural. But I know what it is all about."
Before he left, Schoeman admitted he didn't know what to expect going into the Olympics.
"It isn't really a feeling right now, I can't really believe I'm going," he says. "I expected to be a lot more excited or nervous than I am, but I guess it's good that I'm not very nervous yet. I'm looking forward to it more than I'm dreading it."
Some people have speculated that Schoeman will leave school if he medals, taking the endorsement money over two more years of school.
"I'm not sure if I would leave," Schoeman says. "I've thought about it, and I really want to be a part of the NCAAs and the UA team the next two years. We've got a great team here; even though this is a rebuilding year, we should be very strong this year and especially the year afterwards, my senior year."
"It's going to be a difficult decision, but if I do medal and have the choice, I'll take two years of college life over anything else."
Neethling's schedule starts tomorrow with the 400m free and 4x100m free, and continues Sunday and Monday with the 200m free preliminaries and finals, respectively. He finishes with the 1500m free next Friday and Saturday.
"The media's going bonkers over the 1500, absolutely insane," Neethling says. "It gets old after a while. You can't do anything without people bugging you. Now I know how the basketball team feels."
Schoeman starts Tuesday with the 100m free and finishes with the 50m free on Thursday. In both events, he'll be attempting to knock off heavy favorite and rival, Alexander Popov of Russia, who has been described as "unbeatable" by many Olympic coaches.
With Neethling and Schoeman among the favorites in every event, the UA pair has come a long way from their days in South Africa. Not only do they thank the school for giving them the chance to succeed in the pool, they have learned how to live in and appreciate an integrated society that doesn't always exist in post-apartheid South Africa.
"Four years in Tucson has prepared me supremely well for this and has given me confidence," Neethling says. "I have learned a lot more about myself, and that's essential in this arena."
"Meeting people and being a part of the spirit of the Games is the best part about being an Olympian. It truly is amazing seeing all these people from all over the world."
