The history of competitive water sports in southern Africa

John Keyter - Rhodesian Sportsman of the Year 1969

Starved of international competition through political isolation and maintaining gruelling training schedules for only flimsy local challenges, Rhodesia's 'human torpedo' John Keyter, was eventually to get the chance of proving he was a world-class butterfly swimmer,

He was in the team preparing for the greatest test of them all — the 1968 Olympic Games at Mexico City. But big John's elation was short-lived and turned to bitter disappointment just three weeks before the Games, when news was received that the Mexican Government would not grant visas to the politically outcast Rhodesians.

Keyter had long learned to live with the disappointment of being marooned from the outside sporting world following the Government's Unilateral Declara­tion of Independence which virtually coincided with his rise to the top in swimming.

But this was the bitterest pill and he was pushed to the very verge of retirement. He already had seven South African butterfly titles... why should he continue the gut-wrenching training schedules?

Then in November 1968, a powerful young Springbok butterfly swimmer, Vernon Slovin, returned to South Africa after a four-year stint in America, where he had gained an international ranking and was at one time third in the world.

Suddenly there was a fresh challenge on the home front and Keyter's competitive spirit was stimulated. "This was a new challenge for me," said Keyter. "It was a new incentive and I found myself fighting again."

And so the scene was set for the 1969 South African championships at Cape Town where the Keyter-Slovin confrontation was billed as one of the week's major highlights. Slovin, of Western Province, was determined to reclaim the butterfly titles he had relinquished while in America.

In the most magnificent race of his career, the nineteen-year-old Keyter rose to the occasion, timing his effort superbly and turning for the final lap of the 220 yards 'fly', half a body-length behind Slovin. With a powerful finishing burst he lunged for the wall to touch in the South African record time of 2 min. 12,1 sec, 0.3 sec. faster than Slovin.

His confidence high, the blond 6 ft 4 in.. 195 lb. Rhodesian beat the Slovin challenge again the next night, smashing his own South African 110 yards 'fly' record by 0,5 sec returning a time of 59,2 sec Slovin stopped the watches at one minute dead.