FEATURE
Lara van Niekerk has every reason to feel a sense of déjà vu as she stands on the blocks at the Newton Park Swimming Pool in Gqeberha this April.
It was here, in April 2023, that the double Commonwealth Games champion clocked 1:06.74 in the 100m breaststroke. The time was under the Olympic A cut for Paris 2024. She left the Eastern Cape thinking her ticket to the Olympic Games was booked.
Instead, she became embroiled in a massive administrative bungle, with the 2023 National Championships not registered as an official Olympic qualifying event with World Aquatics. The times didn ' t count.
By the time the final trial window was closing in 2024, the pressure was immense, and then her body gave way. A back injury hindered her performances, and she was ultimately left out of the eight-person squad for Paris. For a swimmer who had beaten Olympic champion Tatjana Smith( then Schoenmaker) just two years prior, watching the Games from home was a bitter pill to swallow.
Now, as the 2026 SA National Swimming Championships( April 14-18) return to Gqeberha, Van Niekerk isn ' t looking for revenge. She’ s hoping to simply enjoy herself after rediscovering her love for the sport.
“ It was extremely tough and I don ' t really think people will ever understand what I went through,” admits the Pretoria swimmer.“ It was definitely a big mental toll … I took three months off. I didn ' t know if I was going to be able to come back from it.
“ But I think just mentally how I worked through it is that everything happens for a reason and
I really stand by ' God has a plan for me ' and I don ' t think the 2024 Olympics was in His plan. I just need to know that if I do keep working, that someday I will achieve what my dreams are.”
Beyond emerging mentally stronger, three months away from the pool also taught her valuable physical lessons.
“ The journey has definitely taught me to listen to my body … It ' s been amazing coming back and learning about myself and all the things that are possible, learning how my body works and how to look out for the danger signs when I need to step back a bit,” she explained.
Being out of the pool also made her realise her story was far from finished.
“ I really started missing the sport and that’ s how I knew that I’ m not done yet. Then I just focused on enjoying training and celebrating the small victories and taking in all the good times with my squad at training and good times at racing, just the people around me have really helped me to rediscover the love for my sport, and I do enjoy it a lot now."
Part of that enjoyment also stems from overcoming a fear of racing.
“ I think in the past there was a time when I was scared of racing, just because of all the pressure and expectations that I put on myself …
“ And now I love racing again and I absolutely love training. I think that ' s such an important part because we have to train every day … like this morning it was freezing cold and the wind was pretty strong, and I still got in the pool and I still enjoyed it.”
Besides the back injury, she has also had to contend with illness and other setbacks along the way.
“ At a point, I felt like it was one step forward, two steps back because I would just get better from an injury and then I would get sick, or I would just get better from being sick and then I would just get an injury again. So it was really tough, but I think that ' s where I learned to listen to my body,” she explained.
“ I think just having the support system around me also really helped. I ' ve got a great group of people, my coach, my family, from physios to my chiro, my sports psychologist, like everyone just really helped me to build myself up again and realise that it ' s not the end.”
Considering all she’ s been through, it’ s hard to believe that Van Niekerk is still only 22 years old. That means she was just 19 when she stormed to two gold medals – in the 50 and 100m breaststroke – at the last Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
She also collected a long course world championship bronze medal and short course world championship silver that same year, and with the 50m breaststroke – her specialist event – making its Olympic debut in Los Angeles in 2028, things are looking up.
" I would say what really excites me is what can still be accomplished. I ' m still so young and I ' m only starting to figure everything out now.
“ And I think just knowing that the LA 2028 Games have the 50m breaststroke in is something that really motivates me and excites me.”
Meanwhile, standing in her corner throughout the heartbreaks and the physical rehab has been her long-time coach, Eugene da Ponte. He has had the difficult task of reigning in an athlete whose default setting is full throttle.
“ It ' s been a really hard couple of years for her … A lot of people may have just given up having faced similar situations and things,” said Da Ponte.
“ She did go through some rough times. It was just kind of always about keeping her positive and getting her thinking about the future and not really the past. She ' s still got a long career ahead of her and that was always the focus, thinking about what ' s to come, not what was.
“ She ' s a tough lady. She ' s dedicated and disciplined and those are the things that carried her through the hard times,” added Da Ponte, pointing out that Van Niekerk is a pleasure to coach.
With both her speed and confidence slowly returning after promising performances in the last few months, Da Ponte believes there are big things in store for his swimmer.
“ We want this to be the stepping stone for big things to come with the Commonwealth Games later this year and then of course, the Olympic Games coming up in 2028 … Lots of big things in her future and it ' s starting to look good. Hopefully we ' ll see more of the old Lara back to herself again by the time Nationals comes around.” www. modernathlete. co. za 9