William Grant Diering (born 7 May 1986) is a South African swimmer, who specialized in breaststroke events. He finished twelfth in the 200 m breaststroke at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

, and also set a new South African record (2:06.85) to earn a bronze medal at the FINA World Short Course Championships few months later in

Manchester, England Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

. Diering competed for the

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

n swimming squad, alongside his teammate Neil Versfeld, in the men's 200 m breaststroke at the

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

. Leading up to the Games, he captured the men's 200 m breaststroke title at the South African Championships in

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 ...

with a new national record of 2:11.88 to assure his selection to the Olympic team under the FINA A-cut (2:13.70) and shave 1.72 seconds off the standard previously set by

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 ...

in 2000. Swimming in heat six, Diering threw down a new African record in 2:10.39 to grab the eighth seed for the semifinals, and then enjoyed his teammate Versfeld joining him to the roster by 0.11 seconds to round out the top four of their heat. Followed by the next morning's semifinals, Diering missed the top eight final with a twelfth-place time in 2:10.21, and lost a spirited challenge for another African record feat to Versfeld (2:10.06) by just a small fraction of a second. Shortly after the Olympics, Diering edged out Tunisia's

Oussama Mellouli Oussama "Ous" Mellouli ( ar, أسامة الملولي; born 16 February 1984) is a Tunisian swimmer who competes in the freestyle and medley events. He is a three-time Olympic medalist, is an African record holder, and trains with the USC Tr ...

by nearly two seconds to claim the 200 m breaststroke title at the

African Swimming Championships African Swimming Championships are the African championships in the sport of Swimming. It is organised by the African Swimming Confederation (CANA) and held biennially. The most recent edition of the Championships was held in August 2022 in Tun ...

with a time of 2:16.00.

References

External links

NBC 2008 Olympics profile
1986 births Living people People from Sandton South African male swimmers Olympic swimmers for South Africa Swimmers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Male breaststroke swimmers Medalists at the FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) African Games silver medalists for South Africa African Games medalists in swimming Competitors at the 2007 All-Africa Games Sportspeople from Gauteng {{SouthAfrica-swimming-bio-stub