Good form Venter’s trump card

Swimmer works hard to take on competitors in championship events

Port Elizabeth swimmer Ian Venter hopes his good form will be the catalyst for his pursuit of gold when he takes on the country’s best swimmers on home soil later this year.

Venter, 18, is hard at work fine-tuning his skills in the pool as he prepares for participation at the Senior Aquatics Championships in the Bay later this year.

The swimmer has achieved some noteworthy results over the past year.

Competing in the Stellenbosch Grand Prix earlier this year and swimming in the 200m freestyle and backstroke, as well as the 100m freestyle, he brought home three medals, including a gold (200m free), a silver (200m back) and bronze (100m free).

He also competed at the South Africa Open Water Swimming Championships in Jeffreys Bay earlier this month, winning the 3km event.

“This will be my third year competing at the senior SA nationals, my best finish being a fourth place in the 100m backstroke event last year,” Venter said.

He also received three silver medals in the youth elite section (SA men 19 and under) for the 50m, 100m and 200m backstroke events, while also winning a bronze medal in the men’s 4x100m medley alongside Credence Pattison, Alard Basson and Alric Basson.

“Swimming with some of the best swimmers in SA is always fun and I love racing against them,” Venter said.

“I was lucky enough to swim in a race with SA Olympian Christopher Reid in the 100m backstroke when he swam his best time and qualified for the Rio Olympics.

“Although I had a bad race on that day, to be able to swim in that race was an experience I will hold onto for a long time.”

First introduced to the excitement of the pool at a young age, he attended swimming lessons with the aim to improve his skills in the water.

After some encouragement from swimming instructors and teachers, Venter has not looked back, competing at various provincial age group levels.

He started his competitive career in the ranks of the now popular aQuelle Ocean Racing Series at the age of nine, but admits to having only started focusing on swimming in Grade 10 at Pearson High School.

“I was walking along the beachfront with my dad when we noticed the Ocean Racing series set up. That’s when I decided I wanted to swim that day,” he recalled.

Prior to his move to the pool, Venter played a number of sports, including cricket, cross-country running, rugby and water polo at junior school level.

Venter now focuses solely on swimming, and adds a bit of surfing in his free time. He tries to spend at least nine sessions in the pool per week, with the addition of two gym sessions as well.

“Nothing worth its salt ever comes easy, there are no freebies, you have to work for the things you want. Life is pretty unfair – even if you put in the work, there is no guarantee that you’ll perform on the day,” he said.

Currently a BCom Accounting student at Nelson Mandela University, Venter decided temporarily to put a hold on studying medicine, as he chose to focus on swimming.

He hopes to move to the United States where he will look into studying medicine and possibly continue his exploits in the pool.