It will be a very different Pieter Coetzé arriving in Glasgow for the Commonwealth Games.
Different from the plucky teenager who left Birmingham four years ago with three medals to his name.
Back then, he was still finding his way on the international stage and had yet to fully grasp the significance of representing his country.
Four years, a second Olympic Games, and a world title later, Coetzé admits he’ s“ grown up a bit”.
“ The last Commonwealth Games, I was 18 and still trying to break through, and it was actually the start of my international career because before that Commonwealth Games, I had never won a medal at a championship competition internationally, so I remember it very fondly,” he said of his performance in Birmingham.
“ Representing South Africa now, I would say I ' ve grown up a bit, and I can kind of understand the meaning behind it and the importance of it more and appreciate it more,” added the 22-year-old who qualified for his first Olympics at the age of just 16.
“ Especially because now you ' ve realised your career will end one day and you just want to make the most of it while you ' re still at that level and you still have that privilege of representing the country.
“ So I ' d say the weight has become more, but it ' s also become more meaningful … it means a lot more than it used to in a way, where in the past, you wouldn ' t fully comprehend it.”
Despite winning gold in the 100m backstroke, silver in the 50m backstroke, and bronze in the 200m event, Coetzé remembers feeling disappointed with his performances four years ago.
“ I had high expectations of myself time-wise and I would have wanted to win all three of my races because looking at the entry lists before the competition, I knew I had a pretty good chance,” he explained.
“ But I didn ' t perform at the level that I wanted to, but still really appreciate the performances I was able to put up and will always remember that first gold medal that I won and my parents being there too to witness it. It was pretty special.”
Pieter and his coach, Rocco Meiring.
His parents, Annelize and Pieter Snr, were also there to witness him winning his first world title – at last year’ s World Aquatics Championships in Singapore.
In powering to the finish in 51.85 seconds in the 100m backstroke, not only did Coetzé set a new SA and African record, but he also got the better of 2024 Olympic champion Thomas Ceccon, and was just 0.25 of a second off the Italian’ s world record.
Coetzé went on to claim two more silver medals at those World Championships – in the 50m and 200m backstroke.
And while Birmingham in 2022 may have been his breakthrough, medals on the world stage hold far more sway.
“ The Commonwealth Games is a bit of a weird one. It ' s not viewed as super important in the swimming community compared to World Championships and the Olympics, but it is still a big event, and the public in South Africa really get behind the athletes every time there ' s a Commonwealth Games,” he explained.
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“ I feel like there ' s a lot of support from the people around the country, so it ' s still a big deal and we ' ve been preparing hard for it, we ' ve been focusing on it, and we do take it very seriously... I still try my best to prepare as well as I do for the Olympics and for the World Championships.”
The second-year TUKS psychology student will be competing in all the backstroke events once again in Glasgow, while also lining up in the 100m freestyle and several relays. He has said the 50m freestyle is also still a possibility.
Coetzé will be one of Team SA’ s chief hopes to make several contributions to the overall medal haul, and while he acknowledges that means added pressure, it’ s not pressure he hasn’ t already put on himself.
“ The fact that I ' m a world champion now and people are talking a little bit more about me and there are some more expectations on me does change things a little bit. I think there is more pressure and there ' s more expectation than there used to be, but I can use that to my advantage and kind of block out the noise and just know that I ' m meant to be there and that the expectations that I ' ve always had of myself have just now been made more public … but it ' s something that I always had before as well,” he said.
Coetzé admits there have been a few hurdles in his build-up to the Games, but he remains confident that the final few weeks of training will get him to where he needs to be.
“ The preparation has been pretty tough. I ' ve had some obstacles and I think I don ' t want to put too much expectation on myself or pressure on myself, so I ' d like to just show myself that I did the work and that I ' m still at that level, especially because it ' s been quite a while since I ' ve competed at that level now. I think the last time was the World Championships last year, so it ' s going to be about a year out from that.
“ So I think I would like to be close to my best, and I ' m not going in expecting personal best times or anything, even though that would be nice. That ' s always something you hope for, but I think a successful Games would look like getting close to my best.”
Close to his best for Coetzé is already world-class, so Glasgow could well provide another golden chapter in his Commonwealth Games story. www. modernathlete. co. za 7