The name Arno Kruger might mean little to South African sports fans, but a year or two from now, they will take note of his swimming heroics.
To use a sports cliche, he is a work in progress in the freestyle events. During the recent South African Short Course Championships in Durban, the swimmer won the 400m-freestyle in 3:44.57. It is a personal best. More importantly, his time is, for now, one of the 12 fastest in the world in the event this year. He also dipped under the B-qualifying standard for the World Short Course Championships.
Kruger also set a personal best time in the 200m-freestyle (1:46.51). It is also faster than the B-qualifying standard for the World Short Course. His time of 49.26s in the 100m-freestyle was another personal best. What excited him in the shorter event was getting to swim shoulder-to-shoulder with South Africa’s swim legend Chad le Clos. In the end, he was 0.55s slower than Le Clos. It is a result that excites him.
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“A year or two ago, I would not have dreamt it to be possible. All credit should go to my coach, Rocco Meiring. He is undoubtedly one of the best. Coach Rocco sees something special in each of the swimmers he coaches. Then, he gets you to believe in what he sees.
“The way he coaches makes you believe nothing is impossible. That you can achieve anything you set your mind to. He does his utmost for every swimmer to help them achieve their goals. I won’t lie. Coach Rocco is stern. During training, there are never any half-measures. If you slack, Coach Rocco will call it out. He wants every one of us to be accountable.
“My handicap is that I trained for eight years in a 25-metre pool before I came to Tuks. So, there is a lot that needs to change in my technique for me to be competitive in the Olympic standard pool.”
Does it not get challenging or tedious to swim for up to two or more hours a day up and down over the same 50 metres? Kruger’s immediate answer is no.
“Every moment I am in the pool, I am at my happiest. There is something specific to focus on during each training session to be faster. No one day in the pool is ever the same, as there are a lot of variables that change. The challenge to us swimmers is to adapt.
“The one thing that makes swimming at Tuks special is the squad. There is a special bond between us. Everyone is inspired to work harder if one of us achieves a specific goal.”
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