'Splash some cash on us'
Cash-strapped South African swimmers Roland Schoeman and Chad Ho have taken to crowd-funding to raise money as they chase international glory. The pair, both Olympians, are among 13 athletes looking for public backing on dreamfuel.me, a website established to assist athletes financially.Schoeman, one of SA's most decorated Olympic athletes, with three medals at Athens 2004, wants to qualify for his fifth Games, which would be an SA first.The 35-year-old, who is based in the US, was dropped from the SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee's funding programme last year after he failed to make the 50m freestyle podium at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.Schoeman is looking to raise $10,000 (about R125,000) before mid-December as part of his #RolandToRio campaign, and by yesterday morning his fund stood at $705.Durban-based Ho, who as a schoolboy finished ninth at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, had raised $700 of the $1500 he had targeted for the 2015 world championships in Kazan, Russia, which kick off today.Most of SA's aquatics contingent had to pay to make the trip, many of them around R1500.If 25-year-old Ho, a six-times Midmar Mile champion, can finish in the top 10 of the 10km race on Monday, he will secure automatic qualification for Rio 2016.Schoeman, who made the 50m freestyle final at three consecutive Olympics from 2004 to 2012, will need to swim a qualifying time of 22.27sec at national trials next year to book his Rio spot.Struggling with a virus at this year's trials, he managed a best of only 22.38, meaning he will miss his first world championships of this millennium."I would like to leave a personal legacy and show people that, with commitment, dedication and belief in yourself you can accomplish anything you put your mind to," Schoeman said on Dreamfuel.me.He claimed SA's first-ever world championship silverware in 2001, a 50m freestyle bronze in Japan.In Athens he became the first South African to win three medals at a single Olympics since runner Bevil Rudd in 1920, winning gold in the 4x100m freestyle relay, 100m freestyle silver and 50m freestyle bronze...
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