South Africa cemented their place as Africa’s top swimming nation by being clear winners of the XII CANA African Swimming Championships which ended in Bloemfontein on Sunday.
The SA team netted a total of 61 medals, 10 more than the 2012 edition of the competition which took place in Nairobi, Kenya.
On the final day of the event Michelle Weber collected South Africa’s final gold medal in the women’s 5km Open Water race.

It was a hard-fought swim at the Maselspoort Dam in Bloemfontein with Rio Olympian Weber coming out on top in a time of 1 hr 12 min 13.26 sec, while teammate Carmen le Roux walked off with the bronze in 1:12:16.37.  Algeria’s Souad Nefissa Cherouati claimed the silver medal in 1:12:13.62.

In the men’s 5km Open Water race the battle was between Egypt’s Youssef Hassem, Marwan Elamrawy and Daniel Marais.

In the end, it was Hassem’s final stroke which won him the gold in 1:00:09.36, ahead of Elamrawy in 1:00:20.34 and Marais claimed bronze for SA in 1:00:22.11.

The day also held plenty of fun for both young and old, with the 1km and 400m races as well as Swimming SA’s Rural Splash programme, completing the final day of the competition in true Mzansi style.

Picture of Weber and Le Roux on the podium courtesy of Gerhard Steenkamp/Superimage Media

Final Medals Table:
Gold, Silver, Bronze, Total
South Africa 33 16 12 61
Algeria 7 7 6 20
Egypt 3 20 18 41
Seychelles 1 1 2 4
Morocco 0 0 3 3
Senegal 0 0 1 1