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MEDIA STATEMENT AT&T Winter Swimming National Championships 4 December 2011 For immediate release South Africa’s American-based swimmers have had a busy couple of days as the 2011 AT&T Winter National Championships took place in Atlanta from the 1st to the 3rd of December 2011 in preparation for next year’s Olympic Trials. Darian Townsend and Sebastien Rousseau claimed the gold and silver medals in the 200m individual medley, both clocking Olympic A Qualification Times of 1:59.27 and 1:59.55 respectively, followed by a silver medal from Roland Schoeman in the 50m freestyle in a time of 22.19. Gideon Louw ended in 8th position in 22.58. On the second day of the competition, Townsend scooped the bronze medal in the 200m freestyle in another Olympic A Qualification Time of 1:47.64, while Jean Basson came in 5th place in 1:48.26 and Rousseau in 9th place in 1:49.44. To end off the three day event, Townsend claimed his third medal, a silver, in the 100m freestyle with a fast time of 48.87, just shy of the Olympic A Qualification Time of 48.82, while Graeme Moore and Gideon Louw finished 3rd and 4th respectively in the B Final. Wendy Trott swam to silver medal in the 800m freestyle, touching the wall in an Olympic A Qualification Time of 8:28.40 and it was an incredible gold medal and an Olympic A Qualification Time for Rousseau in the final event of the competition as he raced ahead of the pack in the 200m butterfly with a time of 1:56.77. In other results, Leone Vorster finished 9th in the B Finals of the 400m freestyle in 4:16.54 and 4th in the B Final of the 200m freestyle with a time of 2:00.83, while Neil Versfeld was 2nd in the B Final of the 200m breaststroke in 2:12.89 and 6th in the 100m breaststroke in 1:01.40. ENDS
For further information please contact: Swimming South Africa Marketing and Communications Manager Godfrey Monei 079 760 6124 Swimming South Africa is the governing body of aquatics in South Africa. Its objective is to encourage the practice of aquatic disciplines for all in South Africa with the purpose of promoting swimming as a life skill through Learn To Swim programmes; providing healthy exercise to South Africans of all ages and races; recruiting recreational swimmers to compete in the various competitions; and promoting competition and athlete development to the highest level. Swimming South Africa is kindly sponsored by Telkom, National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund, SASCOC, Arena, Sport & Recreation SA, and the Department of Water Affairs.
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