Olympic Champion Cameron Van Der Burgh Returning To Competitive Swimming At 37

South African Olympic champion Cameron van der Burgh has revealed he is returning to competitive swimming nearly seven years after retiring.

The 37-year-old breaststroke specialist made the announcement on the premiere episode of his podcast, Back To The Blocks, saying, “I’m at the point in my life where I’m toying with an idea now as a father and businessman, just having moved to Dubai and have a bit of free time to potentially start coming back to the world of high performance in athletics. And this journey is gonna be a lot of fun.”

“I think it’s going to take on a very different role from coming as a very athletic egocentric. This role is going to be very different this time around, where it’s about purpose, and about my family,” he added.

He emphasized the stroke 50s, which were recently added to the LA2028 Olympic schedule for the first time in history.

“I got to try and fit it in around the job, my family, you know, the other commitments that I have in life as we get older. It’s gonna be a lot more difficult. However, because I have this huge muscle memory and kind of, you know, training in the bank, we’re not starting at zero. So, therefore, I think with a mix of good luck, smart training is gonna be the most important thing here. And, you know, we’re really looking into the details of trying to maximize the time that we have in the sessions, in the gym, in the pool. It’s going to be so much more based around speed this time because the 50s are available instead of the 100.”

van der Burgh confirmed that he will make his return to racing at a masters-level meet in February. He has posted about being tested by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) on Instagram within the past month, making it very unlikely he’s joining the Enhanced Games.

van der Burgh originally announced his retirement in December 2018. He had said previously that he would retire after the 2020 Olympic Games, but after getting married in July 2017 and accepting a new job at Andurand Capital Management, a large oil-focused hedge fund based in London, he decided it was time.

He took an Olympic silver medal in the 100 breaststroke in Rio in 2016 and a gold medal in the same event in 2012, though controversially he’d admit after London that he knowingly took extra dolphin kicks on his pullouts in violation of the rules.

Across long course World Championships, van der Burgh medaled in the 50 breast at every meet he attended, capturing gold in 2009 and 2013, silver in 2015, and bronze in 2007, 2011, and 2017. He also earned three medals in the 100 breast with silver in 2013 and 2015, plus bronze in 2011.

At the Short Course Worlds, he won the 50 breast in 2016 and 2018, and the 100 breast in 2010 and 2018. He also collected three silver medals in the 50 breast in 2010 and 2014, and the 100 breast in 2008, along with bronze in the 50 breast in 2008.

In total, van der Burgh owns 18 World Championship medals: 10 in long course and 8 in short course. His personal bests of 58.46 in the long course 100 breast and 26.54 in the 50 breast rank eighth and 13th all-time. In short course, his times of 25.25 and 55.61 sit second and seventh all-time.