SK206 Pieter Coetze

Going best times is all a swimmer can ask for right? Well, it may make a bittersweet Olympics, if you go best time at an Olympics (where few go best times) but you fall in your place from semi-finals to finals. Pieter Coetzee had a bittersweet Olympics, but his young career has been far from bittersweet.

Coetzé made the South African Olympic team at the age of 17, rising through the ranks and recently winning the 100 and 200 short course meters backstroke at the 2024 World Cups, earning him $56,500, not bad for 3 weeks of work.

Although Coetzé may make it seem easy, wearing his golden necklace while racing and not knowing his stroke count, he has worked hard to achieve the success he had at his young age.