Team SA launches new series on elite SA athletes - Matthew Sates
Sates a swimming superstar in the making
In the fourth of a series on the elite SA athletes striving to carry the flag at the 2024 Olympics, Team SA looks at the talented Matthew Sates.
Matthew Sates made a statement last year by winning the overall FINA World Cup Swimming Series, with a total of 227 points across the four competitions and $140,000 in prize money.
The then 18-year-old won 18 medals – 13 gold, four silver and one bronze – while setting three junior world records, including the 200-metre individual medley (1:51.45), the 200-metre freestyle (1:40.65) and the 400-metre freestyle (3:37.92).
Last month, Sates began the defence of his overall World Cup title by breaking the oldest men’s African short-course record with a personal best of 3:36.30 in the 400m freestyle, finishing ahead of American Kieran Smith.
“This is my favourite pool in the world,” Sates said afterwards. “This race means a lot to me. Coming in as 2021 overall Swimming World Cup champ and winning my first race of the 2022 short-course season, I was pretty nervous coming into this, knowing that this race would be the determining factor. I went faster than last year. A year ago I was splitting a 3:40, 3:39 and now I’m on a 3:36 so I’m happy with that, for sure.”
Sates picked up three more golds over the next two days, in the 200-metre individual medley (1:51.64), the 400-metre individual medley (4:02.95) and the 200-metre freestyle (1:40.88).
On day one of the second leg in Toronto, Sates struck gold twice – in the 400-metre freestyle (3:37.52) where he once again beat Smith, and in the 400-metre individual medley (4:02.65) where he powered past Hungarian Hubert Kos in the freestyle leg of the race. And on day three, he won the 400-metre individual medley in 4:02.65.
Those performances helped Sates move on from the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham where his best finish had been fourth in the 400-metre individual medley (4:16.61). He also swam in last year’s Tokyo Olympics, finishing 14th in the 200-metre individual medley and 32nd in the 100-metre butterfly.
However, Sates would have regarded both of those Games as stepping stones to greater things, with the results less important than the experience gained.
Sates was born and raised in Pietermaritzburg, where he attended St Charles College. He began swimming at a young age and was trained by Wayne Riddin at Seals Swimming Club.
When his coach had back surgery at the beginning of this year, Sates decided to head to the US to try out the college scene. He won the 500-yard freestyle for the University of Georgia at the NCAA Championships in an NCAA record time of 4:06.61, before returning to Maritzburg to become a professional swimmer and reconnect with Ridden.
“I love swimming and for as long as I can remember I dreamed of competing on the world’s biggest stage as a professional,” Sates said.
In April, Sates won four titles at the SA National Championships in Gqeberha, including the blue riband 100m freestyle in a personal best of 48.97. And in May, he completed an incredible clean sweep of golds in each of his nine events in the Mare Nostrum Swim Tour in Europe.
“Racing swimmers at this level has been amazing although when you suddenly realise you are racing for big prize money, it does make you a bit nervous. But I’ve always been told to concentrate on the race and performance, so that’s worked for me,” said Sates, who has been tipped by many as a future swimming superstar, including SA’s most decorated Olympian, Chad de Clos.
Paris 2024 could be where he lives up to that billing.
