'Awesome threesome' heading to Durban

While last-minute entries are still filtering into the Swimming South Africa (SSA) offices, there is already an impressive collection of Olympic gold medallists and world record holders who have confirmed their participation in next month's Fina World Cup in Durban.

SSA announced the initial list of international entries on Thursday and among them are Olympic 200m freestyle champion Camelia Potec and 4x100 medley relay silver medallist Thomas Rupprath.

This is the second year one of the legs of the Fina World Cup has come to Durban and while 2003's event attracted swimmers from 17 countries, CEO of SSA Dave Norman said on Thursday that this year 23 countries have sent their entries in with a couple more expected in the next week.

Some of the countries yet to confirm their teams are Brazil, Korea and Australia, who as hosts of other legs of the World Cup are obliged to send four swimmers to Durban, as well as the Netherlands.

Potec, who just missed out on a medal in the 400m freestyle in Athens to add to her gold, is part of the Romanian contingent which will also include Olympic bronze medallist in the 200m backstroke Florea Razvan and Dragos Coman, who reached the final of the 1 500m freestyle at the Games.

Rupprath, who hails from Germany, is a butterfly specialist and along with his Olympic silver, claimed fourth spot in the 100m butterfly. His team-mate Ante Buschschulte, Olympic bronze medallist in both the 4x200m freestyle and 4x100m medley relays, will also be making the trip to Durban.

Among the world record-holders who will be competing in the King's Park pool are Americans Ed Moses (100 and 200m breaststroke), and Peter Marshall (100m backstroke) as well as Sweden's Anna-Karin Kamerling (50m butterfly).

Moses has broken a total of 13 world records in his career and is sure to keep the KwaZulu-Natal crowds entertained.

But what will be of most interest to the locals will be the fact that three of South Africa's "awesome foursome" who claimed Olympic gold, and with it the world record in the 4x100m freestyle relay in Athens, will be competing on home soil again. Roland Schoeman, Ryk Neethling and Darian Townsend will all be in Durban. The fourth member of the quartet, Lyndon Ferns, won't be able to make the trip from the United States due to university commitments.

Norman said that the names of the other South Africans competing at the November 19-21 event will be released next week, along with those of the late international entries.