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Green Pool Postpones RSA Nationals

Apr 16, 2013  - Craig Lord

South Africa's national swim championships have been postponed today because the pool at Port Elizabeth is too murky to race in. The first day of action took place in green waters and the federation in South Africa contacted the local authorities to ask them to find a solution. 

The meet has been called off for today. It is hoped that action can resume tomorrow after the filtration system has done its job, while swimmers and others have received a new schedule of events, the meet still due to finish on Saturday.

Jace Naidoo, president of Swimming South Africa, told us: "A mechanical [issue] resulted in a problem with water clarity and we’ve delayed the event for today to allow the local authority to fix the problem."

Olympic champion Cameron Van der Burgh will now miss the final of the 100m breaststroke, delayed until tomorrow because he had plans to jet over to the Bergen Swim festival for a tribute meet to his late rival and friend Alexander Dale Oen. The 2011 world 100m champion died a year ago during a training camp in the US. Here's the list of international swimmers including Olympic champion Daniel Gyurta, the silver medallist in the 200m at London 2012 a touch behind the Hungarian, Michael Jamieson, and their fellow Olympic finalist Andrew Willis,  due at the Bergen tribute. World cup champion Katinka Hosszu is among those scheduled to race there too after making her way back to Europe in the wake of a big programme at the US Grand Prix in Mesa. 

In Port Elizabeth, Der Burgh was scheduled to race the 50m tomorrow but will also now miss that race. Der Burgh has already qualified for the world championships.

In a statement, the federation noted:

The SA National Aquatic Championships programme for today, Tuesday, 16th April 2013, has been interrupted by an unforeseen pipe burst at the Newton Park Swimming Pool in Port Elizabeth.

The Pool Management is currently working tirelessly to address the situation and the competition is due to resume tomorrow, Wednesday, 17th April 2013.

Swimming South Africa would like to thank the athletes for their cooperation and understanding.