Cameron van der Burgh to Retire After 2020 Tokyo Olympics

7 Jun 2018

Cameron van der Burgh is planning to call time on his illustrious swimming career following the 2020 Olympic Games in Japan.

The South African breaststroke swimmer announced his intentions to retire during a recent radio interview, where he explained his plans to focus on life after competitive sport.

Van der Burgh won Olympic gold in the 100m breaststroke at London 2012, but had to settle for a silver four years later after being unable to keep up with Adam Peaty's world record-breaking performance.

He has also won four Commonwealth Games golds and four World Championship golds, but told Johannesburg station 702 that 2020 will be the right time to bow out.

"Being 32 at the next Olympic Games I think I would like to call it a day," he said. "I have had a very wonderful career.

"I have had a rather fortuitous career. I think that I would rather end on my own terms and end up as best as I can.

"I have a lot of other dreams and other aspirations in my life. I owe so much to swimming but I don't want that to be what defines the rest of my life."

Away from swimming, van der Burgh is building his sports and marketing consultancy business, Touch58.

In the pool, the Arena swimmer most recently gained two bronze medals at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.