The history of competitive water sports in southern Africa

Coach Frank Gray - sons David, Simon, Andrew and Nicky

SWIMMING COACH: SIMON GRAY

Simon was born in Fulham, London on the 29 April 1959. He is a third generation of successful swimming coaches.

He could swim a mile at the age of six and broke numerous world age group records for 1500m from his eighth to fourteenth year. He held the South Africa record for the 1500m from 1972 – 1993, when his very own swimmer, Ryk Neethling, only then managed to break it.

Simon studied at the University of Houston in Arizona, United States of America for four years while on a swimming scholarship.

He represented England at the Commonwealth Games in 1978 and won 3 silver medals in the 1500m freestyle, 400m freestyle and 400m individual medley. Simon also represented England at the Olympic Games in Moscow in 1980 and swam in the finals of the above mentioned events. He held numerous English and British records from 1977 – 1982.

Simon’s coaching career started in 1983 in Durban when he introduced Penny Heynes to the sport of swimming. She went on to win two gold medals at the Atlanta Olympics in the 100m and 200m breaststroke.

He started coaching in Bloemfontein in 1986 and founded the well known swimming club, Bloemfontein Seals, which is one of the strongest swimming clubs in South Africa and is operated out of Super Sport Health and Adventure Club on the waterfront in Bloemfontein.

Simon coached Olympic swimmer Jeanine Steenkamp in 1992 and Ryk Neethling in 1996. To date he has coached 24 senior national South African champions. Four swimmers represented South Africa in Beijing, at the 2008 Olympic Games come out of the Seals Academy and they include the likes of Ryk Neethling, George du Rant, Suzaane van Biljon and Lisa Mari Retief.