The history of competitive water sports in southern Africa

Brian Stewart - Springbok and Swimming coach

Swimming Career:

Born in Namibia.

Started swimming in 1960 in Pretoria aged 15 and broke his first SA swim record in the 220 yds Backstroke in the Nationals in Pretoria: time 2.27.1. His SA record when he retired in 1968 had come down to 2.18.2 (still in yds). He also improved the SA record for 110 yds backstroke from 66,6 to 63.1 (1.5 secs outside the then world record) in this time. He was also SA Record holder for three years for the 220 yds IM.

He won a total of 13 SA National and 3 British Titles as follows:

1962:    Pretoria:          220 yds Backstroke

1963:    Cape Town:     110 yds Backstroke; 220 yds Backstroke

1964:    Port Elizabeth: 110 yds Backstroke; 220 yds Backstroke.

1964     Crystal Palace London UK: 110 yds and 220yds British Backstroke titles.

1965:    Salisbury:      110 yds Backstroke; 220 yds Backstroke; Best Male swimmer of the Tournament.

1965;    Blackpool UK: 110 yds British Backstroke title and placed second in 220 yds Backstroke to Ralph Hutton Olympic finalist in 1964.

1966:    Durban:     110 yds Backstroke; 220 yds Backstroke; Best Male swimmer of the Tournament

1967:    Johannesburg: 200m Backstroke, 100m Freestyle; 200m Ind Medley

1968:    Bloemfontein:  100m Backstroke; 200m IM; Best Male swimmer of the Tournament: Selected for 1968 Mexico Olympics

Represented SA:

1964     Tour of Britain and Europe

1965:    Tour of Britain and Europe; Test vs West Germany in Johannesburg

1966:    Tour of France, USA and Canada

1967:    Tour of Europe;

1968:    Tour of Rhodesia (3 tests)

Coaching History

He coached in Windhoek and Bloemfontein after he retired in 1968 and SA was banned from the Mexico Olympics...still has the letter from Alex Bulley advising of this!

In Namibia he coached Dorothea Neumeister (Springbok in about 1972) who was later taken over by Larry Laursen (also one of his swimmers). In Bloem he coached Dougie Eager, and Charl Venter (Springbok about 1980) He retired from coaching after that to pursue his career as a development economist (coaching was a part-time thing) started playing water polo masters an swam masters for several years.