Young swimmer refuses to let tough times hold him back

Aspiring Olympic swimmer Johnathan Els was thrown into the deep end early in his life — literally and figuratively.

Born in November 2004, by February 2005 his mother Jennifer had him in the pool learning to swim. When he was 3 years old he suffered the loss of his father Hannes, who was 33.

The Els family had relocated to Zambia where Hannes worked as a fixed-wing paramedic. He had transported a critically ill Zambian woman to Johannesburg and three weeks later succumbed to the same haemorrhagic fever-type virus.

The family moved back to Pietermaritzburg in KwaZulu-Natal where Jennifer is now a full-time mom to three children and owner of the busy Foggy’s swimming school.

Johnathan’s competitive swimming journey began when he was 8 and his Olympic dream started when he watched Chad le Clos win butterfly gold at the London Olympics in 2012.

“Since I saw that on TV, I’ve wanted to be like him,” says Johnathan, now in matric at St Charles College. “Watching him, lit the spark in me. I’ve trained a bit with him, spoken to him, met his family and he’s played a major role in forming the person and swimmer I am now.”

The next step in his journey will be the World Cup series in Berlin, Athens and Budapest next month. His mother has broken the bank to ensure he gets to realise the next part of his dream, and the October 2 departure date is emotionally significant because it’s the date his father died.

But there’s been more than one break in his dream, the most recent being on August 22 last year when he underwent bilateral reconstruction of his hips.

“That was another significant period in our lives. He had his operation the day after my birthday and the day before what was his late dad’s birthday,” his mother said. “Johnathan started complaining his hips were sore. I took him to see Dr David Ogg in Hilton who did tests and scans and recommended surgery.”

Ogg explained: “I identified an issue with Johnathan’s groin and hip, particularly evident during breaststroke and specific hip positions. Imaging revealed a developmental abnormality in his femoral head, which had an oval shape instead of the usual round one. This abnormality placed undue stress on the joint cartilage, leading to discomfort in certain positions and the potential for early hip arthritis if untreated.

“After consultation, we decided to refer Johnathan to an orthopaedic surgeon who would surgically reshape the femoral head into a more rounded form to better fit the hip socket. He underwent surgery on both hips simultaneously and experienced an exceptional recovery.

“His journey highlighted the importance of post-surgery rehabilitation, which he embraced wholeheartedly. He diligently worked with a physiotherapist [Kopano Malebo] to regain hip mobility and muscle strength,” Ogg said.

“Johnathan’s dedication paid off when he competed in the SA Schools swimming championships, winning numerous medals, including gold, within a year of the surgery.”

Johnathan said: “Before the op, it felt like my groin and adductor muscles were overworking and my hips were grinding and popping, especially during the breaststroke kick, so it was hurting me in the 200m individual medley.”

Despite having to learn to walk again, he said he feels like a new young man. “It was frustrating. I started off doing the 100m in two minutes, now I’m going 54sec compared to a best of 57 before the op.”

He trains at Wayne Riddin’s Seals club where the Olympic coach has kept a close eye on the teen.

“Johnathan started with me as a young boy and has always had a good training ethic. He’s developed into being a good individual medley swimmer racing up to 400m events,” Riddin said.

“Our aim is to get him fast enough to get a scholarship to the US, hopefully by August next year. Due to his consistency in training this year, his support of the junior coaching at Seals, and his manner on pool deck, I felt it was appropriate to reward him with a trip to the Swimming World Cup next month.

“He’s become a well-mannered young man and a role model for the younger swimmers to look up to, and we hope to support him as much as possible to achieve his goals.”

What are those goals for next month? Johnathan said: “It’s my first time on the international stage so I want to soak up as much experience as possible and come back as more than an average swimmer and hopefully go to the US next year with the times to back me up. This time last year I was lying in bed, flat on my back, watching the World Cup, now I’ll be there.”

With so much adversity in his young life, the SA sports family will be hoping Johnathan’s cup will run over when he returns from his European adventure.