Breaststroke specialist Cameron Van der Burgh joined an elite club of FINA World Cup event winners this week after he won his 50th title in Berlin, Germany in the 100m Breast. The South African has a long-list of swimming achievements, including three Olympic teams (2008, 2012, and 2016), winning individual Olympic gold in 2012 and silver in 2016, becoming a World Champion in the 50m Breast (2009, 2013), and breaking multiple world records. Van der Burgh won his first two FINA World Cup titles in 2007 when he took the 100m (1:00.33) and 200m Breaststroke (2:11.37) in Durban. A breakdown of his titles by year is listed below:
2007: 4 Titles
2008: 10 Titles
2009: 8 Titles
2010: 4 Titles
2011: 0 Titles
2012: 4 Titles
2013: 0 Titles
2014: 0 Titles
2015: 15 Titles
So far in 2016, Van der Burgh has five titles (which totals $7,500 in first place prize money alone). The 2016 FINA World Cup consists of nine meets, and only the first two meets have been completed. Van der Burgh is currently sitting in fourth position in the men’s overall point standings behind Vladimir Morozov, Chad le Clos, and Philip Heintz. The next stop will take place this weekend in Moscow, Russia from September 3-4, 2016.
Notably, Van der Burgh is the only swimmer to have won every 50m and 100m Breaststroke race in a single FINA World Cup calendar year, which he accomplished in 2015. He has also been the overall FINA World Cup winner (totaling the most points over the course of the year) three times (2008, 2009, and 2015).
Not an excuse for his cheating, but I will say that in recent competitions he has been swimming clean races (no dolphin kick), which is a lot more than we can say for the other breaststrokers… Including one of our own American breaststrokers.
Apparently “everyone” did it so… take that how you’d like to. And I guess it’s a little better to admit it… maybe. I’m not really sure.