Theophilus "Theo" Verster (born 14 January 1975) is a South African former swimmer, who specialised in butterfly and in individual medley events. He won three medals at the

1999 All-Africa Games The 7th All-Africa Games were held from September 10, 1999, to September 19, 1999, in Greater Johannesburg, South Africa. 53 countries participated in eighteen sports. Netball was included as a demonstration sport. The South Africans hosted abou ...

, and later represented South Africa at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

. He also held an African record of 55.04 from the 2002 Telkom International Sprint Challenge that defeated

Terence Parkin Terence Mike Parkin (born 12 April 1980 in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe) is a swimmer from South Africa, who won the silver medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics in the 200m Breaststroke. Parkin, who is deaf, also competed in the 2004 Summer Olympics, as wel ...

for a top finish and sliced off

Brendon Dedekind Brendon Dedekind (born 14 February 1976 in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal) is a South African retired swimmer. He won an international championship gold medal in the 50 m freestyle at the 1999 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships. Nicknamed ...

's standard by 0.37 of a second. During his sporting career, Verster trained full-time under his personal coach Alisdair Hatfield. Verster ascended to prominence in the global scene at the

1999 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships The eighth edition of the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships, a long course (50 m) event, was held in 1999 at the Sydney International Aquatic Centre in Sydney, Australia, from 22–29 August. Only two swimmers per country could comp ...

in Sydney, placing seventh each in the 100 m butterfly (54.28) and 200 m individual medley (2:04.24). On that same year, at the

All-Africa Games The African Games, formally known as the All-Africa Games or the Pan African Games, are a continental multi-sport event held every four years, organized by the African Union (AU) with the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (AN ...

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

, Verster established meet records to claim two golds each in the 200 m butterfly (2:04.69) and in the 200 m individual medley (2:04.10). In the 100 m butterfly, he was upstaged by teammate Kelly on a head-to-head race, ending up only with a silver in 54.75. At the

in Sydney, Verster built a monstrous program of four swimming events. He posted

FINA FINA (french: Fédération internationale de natation, en, International Swimming Federation, link=yes) (to be renamed as World Aquatics by ) is the international federation recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for administer ...

A-standards of 53.86 (100 m butterfly), 2:01.63 (200 m butterfly), and 2:03.11 (200 m individual medley) from the South African Championships in

. On the third day of the Games, Verster placed twenty-sixth in the 200 m butterfly. Swimming in heat three, he picked up a fourth seed by almost a full body length behind winner

Vladan Marković Vladan Marković (Serbian Cyrillic: Владан Марковић; born 20 March 1977 in Belgrade, Yugoslavia with height 1.87 cm and weight 90 kg) is a Serbian swimmer also considered to be one of the country's all-time best. He is the ...

of Yugoslavia in 2:00.90. Two days later, in the 200 m individual medley, Verster finished twentieth in 2:03.64, nearly a small fraction of a second outside the semi-final field. In his final individual event, 100 m butterfly, Verster posted a time of 53.95 from heat five, but missed again the semi-finals by 0.14 of a second with an eighteenth-place effort. Verster also teamed up with Simon Thirsk, Brett Petersen, and Nicholas Folker in the 4 × 100 m medley relay. Swimming a butterfly leg in heat two, Verster recorded a split of 53.52, a national record, but the South Africans finished the race in fourth place and thirteenth overall with a final time of 3:42.44. Verster also sought his entry bid for the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

in Athens, but finished fourth in the 100 m butterfly (54.82) at the South African Championships, handing over to his teammate Eugene Botes. Shortly after the trials, Verster announced his retirement from swimming. He is currently working as a full-time coach for Saint Andrew's School for Girls in

References

External links

News24 ProfileCoach Profile – Oxygen for Life (South Africa)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Verster, Theo 1975 births Living people Olympic swimmers for South Africa Swimmers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2002 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games competitors for South Africa South African male butterfly swimmers South African male medley swimmers Sportspeople from Durban African Games gold medalists for South Africa African Games medalists in swimming African Games silver medalists for South Africa Competitors at the 1999 All-Africa Games 21st-century South African people 20th-century South African people