Ryk Neethling





Team Visa CEMEA Mentor

Date of birth: 17/11/77
Sport: Swimming
Hometown: Bloemfontein

Achievements to date:

Internationals:

Olympic Games
Athens 2004: Gold Medal (4x 100m Freestyle Relay)

World Championships
Montreal 2005: 2x Bronze Medals (100 & 100m Freestyle)
Shanghai 2006 (Short Course): 3x Gold Medals (100m Freestyle, 100m Individual Medley, 200m Freestyle)

Commonwealth Games:
Melbourne 2006: 1x Silver (100m Freestyle) , 1x Gold (4x 100m Freestyle Relay)
Manchester 2002: 1x Bronze (100m Freestyle), 1x Silver (4x100m Freestyle Relay)

Pan Pacific Championships:
Sydney 1999: 2x Bronze (200m Freestyle & 400m Freestyle), 1x Silver (1500m Freestyle) 		  Ryk Neethling is one of the most successful swimmers in the University of Arizona and South Africa’s history.

Ryk has participated in the last three Olympic Games for South Africa, culminating in a Gold Medal and World Record performance in the Athens 2004 Olympic Games.

Currently, Neethling holds the South African record in five different events and ranks in the top ten in the world in the 50, 100, and 200 Freestyle and Individual Medleys. His success as an intercollegiate swimmer at the University of Arizona has also elevated him to become one of the most highly regarded athletes in Tucson and the International swimming community. Ryk’s collegiate athletic career at Arizona was unmatched, leading to nine individual NCAA Championships and the Arizona Athlete of the Century Award.

Born and raised in Bloemfontein, South Africa, Ryk attended Grey College in South Africa. Growing up in a close knit family, Ryk learnt the meaning of competition and determination. His sister Elsje was diagnosed with brain tumours and endured three brain surgeries before making a full recovery. Throughout her treatment she continued swimming, never giving up her hope, determination, and passion while fighting for her life. It was this positive attitude that Ryk adopted in his swimming that led to his international and collegiate success.

At the age of 6, Ryk started taking water safety lessons after a near fatal drowning incident, and immediately took to the water. He quickly became a national force in his age groups, but international sanctions due to Apartheid always put a damper on South African athletes’ celebrations and dreams. It was during this time that Ryk started dreaming about going to the US to study and swim and to make his Olympic Games dream a reality.

In 1995, at the age of 17, several colleges began persuing Ryk for swimming scholarships. At this point, he had never visited the United States and barely spoke English. He soon committed to Arizona and enrolled in the fall of 1996. Throughout the four years he competed for Arizona, Ryk had become one of the most successful intercollegiate swimmers in history.

During his career at Arizona, Ryk’s success was unparalleled. He was a nine-time NCAA National Champion (2nd most in history). He was voted Arizona Athlete of the Year and PAC-10 Swimmer of the year for four consecutive years. In 1999, the NCAA named him the Swimmer of the Year, the highest honour in intercollegiate swimming. He also earned other Arizona honours such as the Sapphire Award Winner in 2000. But the most prestigious award he received during his collegiate career was the University of Arizona Athlete of the Century Award.

Ryk didn’t start 2008 in the best way, by picking up a shoulder injury. However his recovery has been swift and he earned 2 silver medals at a meet in Phoenix early in 2008. Following this he was named in the South African team for the World Short Course Championships, but due to its closeness to the National trials he decided to pull out, in order to give himself the best chance of qualification for the Beijing Olympic Games.

This decision paid off and Ryk will be on his way to Beijing with the rest of his team in August.

Ryk began participating in international competitions for South Africa in 1993 and continued throughout his career at Arizona. Since then, Ryk has held over 20 junior national records and 22 South African National titles. He has represented South Africa and medalled in three Commonwealth Games, the most in South African history. He has also been a five-time finalist in the Olympic Games and the World Championships, participating in the 1996, 2000 & 2004 Olympic Games.