At the SA Swimming Championships in Gqeberha on Sunday, Brad Tandy officially handed over the sprint freestyle baton to teenage sensation Pieter Coetzé.
After the 50m freestyle final, the 30-year-old veteran announced his retirement from the sport.
Tandy, who had just arrived in Gqeberha from the United States, was beaten to the title by Coetzé, a 17-year-old who sped to the wall in 22.34 seconds. On Saturday evening, he swam a World Championship and Commonwealth Games qualifying time on the opening leg of the 4x50m freestyle relay.
Brad Tandy, who finished second in a time of 22.49, had some comments for his competitor.
“He said: ‘Well done, it’s all yours now. You take it from here,’” revealed Coetzé afterwards.
“So that was a great moment to share with him.
“To win it is great and obviously to race Brad was awesome, and very emotional to see him finishing. He’s one of the greatest guys in the world of swimming. He’s an amazing swimmer and I really got to know him in the village in Tokyo – he was like a mentor to the younger guys on the team, so it was great to experience the Olympics with him,” added Coetzé.
Emotional final race for Brad Tandy
Tandy’s career highlight was making the final of the 50m freestyle at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, where he placed joint sixth in a fast 21.79. At 2018, he won silver in the Commonwealth Games and bronze in the 4x100m medley relay with Chad le Clos, Cameron van der Burgh, and Calvyn Justus, as well as excelling on the American college circuit.
“It’s quite an emotional one for me. They always say the starting is the hard part, but they don’t really give you a heads up on the finishing,” admitted Brad Tandy after his final race.
“I was going to be happy with whatever I swam, just to be back here in South Africa, seeing the crowd. I didn’t win it, but I still got the applause… it means a lot to me.”
Speaking about making the decision to call it quits, the 30-year-old who now lives in Arizona explained: “I think it’s time for the next chapter of my life. To be honest, the little boy from Ladysmith, what I have achieved has surpassed all goals I set out. I could have retired happy after winning my first national championships. I’ve just been blessed and blessed in the sport but I just feel like all the stars are aligning, I’m getting married, job, right age – it feels good. There are some great up and coming swimming so I’m leaving it in good hands.”
In the absence of Coetzé, who was unable to compete in the 200m backstroke final, top honors went to Ruan Ras of Pretoria, who finished in 2:05.03.
With a 1:59.29 in the morning heats, Coetzé narrowly missed qualifying, but elected to focus on the 50m freestyle in the evening. On Monday, he’ll swim a time trial to see whether he can get under the required time once more.
Michaela Pulford won the 800m freestyle in 8:46.33 seconds, Olivia Nel the 50m backstroke in 28.81 seconds, and Duné Coetzee the 200m butterfly in 2:11.88 seconds.
The SA Swimming Championships will be held at the Newton Park Swimming Pool for one more day, ending on Monday, April 11th.
So far, the following swimmers have qualified for the Commonwealth Games and FINA World Championships:
Women
Aimee Canny (200m freestyle)
Emma Chelius (50m freestyle)
Kaylene Corbett (200m breaststroke)
Tatjana Schoenmaker (50m, 100m and 200m breaststroke)
Lara van Niekerk (50m and 100m breaststroke)
Men
Pieter Coetzé (50m and 100m backstroke, 50m freestyle)
Michael Houlie (50m breaststroke)
Chad le Clos (100m, 200m butterfly)
Matt Sates (200m freestyle)
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