Ken Smith was a former Parktown Boys High pupil and three-time South African 10km open water swimming champion. He was murdered in Pakistan in 2007. His father, Neville Smith, was elected as an Honour Administrator in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame Class of 2021.

1999 Midmar Mile with Terence Parkin, Rob McKay, Kenneth Smith (the late), Michael Fitchie (UK)

Tragedy Strikes South African Swimming Community

PESHAWAR, Pakistan. NEVILLE Smith, the Open-Water Coordinator for Swimming South Africa, is en route to Pakistan to claim the body of his son, Kenneth, who was found murdered Sunday in the Pakistani city of Peshawar. The body of the 26-year-old Smith was found in a bag on the outskirts of the city.

Neville Smith said his family was unaware the young man was in Pakistan and had no idea why he was there. The family thought Smith was in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates searching for a job as a swimming coach. Kenneth Smith was a three-time 10K open-water champion in South Africa.

Reports have been mixed concerning the cause of death. Some indications have suggested he was poisoned while other reports have indicated Smith was shot in the back of the head. Before being notified of their son's death, the family had last heard from Kenneth two weeks ago. They plan to explore why their son was in Pakistan.

"I am going to fly to Pakistan on Wednesday to try and get the truth from police there," Neville Smith said in the Beeld. "I don't have any idea what my lad was doing there. I will bring his body back to South Africa. There are no cremation facilities in Pakistan. It is also only fitting that he come back to South Africa."

Father stunned by swimmer's death in Pakistan

11 Apr 2007

Kenneth Smith was an Olympic hopeful who never missed a Sunday morning church service. Now the 26-year-old's relatives and friends are desperately trying to understand how the swimming star came to be beaten, murdered and dumped in Peshawar, Pakistan - one of the world's most dangerous cities. "It's a mystery to us why he ended up where he did," Kenneth's father Neville told The Star yesterday. "I knew that he had gone to the East but, in the last SMS he sent us in March, he said he planned to travel to Germany to meet up with some friends. I remember feeling relieved that he was going to be spending time with athletes of his own calibre. "As far as I knew, he was heading off to Europe to pursue his career there. He was chasing his dream."

Kenneth Smith's badly beaten body, which was identified by his father using photographs provided to him by the Department of Foreign Affairs, was found wrapped in a plastic bag on Sunday. Smith said he last saw his son on January 20, the day before he left South Africa. "The last time I saw Kenny, the vibe between us was amazing, and that's something I am really happy about. "It's terrible when the last time that you see someone is a negative experience, and you are left with this bad memory, all these things unsaid. My last memory of my son is a good one."

According to Smith, Kenneth had decided to take six months off from training after he aggravated a recurring rotator cuff injury in December last year. "He sold his car so that he could travel overseas. He even told his grandmother that he planned to write a book," he said. Now, said Smith, a Pakistani undertaker was working with the Department of Foreign Affairs to ensure that his son's body was brought home on the next available flight. "We just want him home," he said. Smith said he had been "blown away" by the condolences and messages of goodwill he received from members of the swimming community after news of his son's death broke. "We knew that he was a popular guy, but we had no idea how many lives he had touched or just how much people loved him."

Swimmer Ryk Neethling told The Star he was dumbstruck by the news of Kenneth's death. "I couldn't believe it … I kept hoping that the media reports were wrong," he said, revealing that he had been swimming with Kenneth "for the past ten years". Neethling said he had expressed his condolences to Neville Smith when he saw him yesterday at the South African Senior National Aquatic Championships in Natal. "As much as people want to speculate about what happened to Kenneth, he was a really good guy and there really are no words. It's too sad to even try," Neethling said he knew that Kenneth had recently experienced some tough times. "I tried to organise for him to go over to America on a swimming scholarship, but it didn't work out," he said.

Swimming SA head Shaun Adriaanse described Kenneth as a "definite Olympic prospect" and denied that the swimmer's shoulder injury would have kept him out of consideration for the Beijing 2008 squad. "We were hoping that he would be back in the pool by the end of May. We are all very saddened by what has happened. He was a very polite and well-spoken young man." Danie du Toit, head of the Pretoria University High Performance Centre, where Kenneth lived and trained until late last year, described the young man as a "typical athlete". "He was focused and dedicated. We used to run church services every Sunday morning, and he never missed a single one. He was a good guy."

Neville Smith said a memorial service for his son would be conducted at Parktown Boys' High School on Wednesday next week. 

 2005 Nationals 200 fly Podium - L - R Dave van der Bijl, Jan "Jasper" Venter and Kenneth Smith

with Olympian Chad Ho at a Midmar Mile finish

 

Swimming South Africa on Tuesday named a group of open water swimming athletes who will participate in Europe during June.

A senior squad comprising of the talented Shaun Dias (KwaZulu-Natal), Tyrone Venter (Central Gauteng Aquatics) and Velia Janse van Rensburg (Eastern Province Aquatics) will depart for France on June 2, where they will compete in a five-kilometre race in Bordeaux on Sunday, June 5. This event forms part of the French Cup.

The squad will then move on to Canet in France where they will compete in the Mare Nostrum series pool events on June 7 and 8. Here they will meet up with national open water champion Kenneth Smith (KZN) and the indomitable Terence Parkin (KZN), who will have competed in Barcelona the preceding weekend.

The squad will end their trip in the United Kingdom where they will participate in a marathon swimming festival which will be held at the Royal Albert Docks in London on June 11 and 12.

Smith, Parkin and Venter will compete in the 10km Fina Marathon Swimming Series event, while Shaun Dias will compete in the 3km Junior International and Velia Janse van Rensburg will compete in the 10km British National Open Water Swimming Championships.

The national junior squad will link up with the seniors in London and will compete in the 3km Junior International on the Sunday morning preceding the FINA event.

The squad includes Pieter Swart (NTS), Chad Ho (KZN), Alain Lotriet (FS), Louise Smythe (FS), Gabi Bombadieri (KZN), Demi Drakopolis (KZN), Rae'esha Hendricks (WPA) and Rene Warns (KZN).

A group of promising athletes have been invited to participate, at their own expense at the London festival.

These include masters stalwarts Greg Price (CGA) and Rachelle Isakov (CGA) along with promising youngsters, Julia Richardson (MPL), Karleen van Heerden (MPL), Nadia Swart (NTS), Carrey-Ann Botha (KZN), James Todd (WPA), Edward Bond (CGA), Michael Meyer (CGA) and Kevin van der Linde (CGA).

The squad will be managed by Neville Smith while Rafiq Bedford is the coach. - Sapa

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Swimmers Rise to the Challenge at Nahoon

Jan 10, 2005  - Neville Smith

The Telkom Virgin Active Swim Challenge Series proved to be a resounding success at the Nahoon Dam near East London on Sunday, with favourable conditions ensuring that fast times were the order of the day.

An enthusiastic crowd witnessed some of the fastest open water swimming ever recorded in South Africa, with stellar performances by Kenneth Smith in the 5km event and Border favourite Mark Randall.

The talented Randall showed just why he is so highly rated in his speed swimming events when he posted a swift 10:55 for the blue ribbon event of the day, the 1km for Men 14 - 30. The previous best was the 11:43 recorded by Troyden Prinsloo at the Telkom Virgin Active Swim Challenge Series event at the Midmar Dam in December.

Mark Volker headed the field out towards the first buoy with Randall, Smith and Tyron Venter in close attendance. Randall surged going into the turn and accelerated hard down the back section of the course to build a lead that never saw him challenged again during the race.

His effort was clinical and what was even more remarkable is the fact that in open water swimming terms, Randall is a novice. The Swim Challenge Series is only his second open water-swimming event in which he has participated.

Smith was philosophical about his effort. His 11:35 is his best effort of the series, while the same applied to Tyrone Venter who was happy with his 11:49

Earlier, former triple national champion Smith rewrote the domestic record books when he posted the fastest 5km time ever swum at a Swimming South Africa-sanctioned event in South Africa. His 54,45 destroyed the previous best that is held jointly by Smith and Shaun Dias of 58,38.

Second-placed Tyron Venter with 56,54 was also well under the mark, while Jason Page (59,28) and Kyle Main (59,50) also went under the 60-minute mark.

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Open water swimming at the 2005 World Aquatics Championships – Men's 10 km

The men's 10 km race at the 2005 World Championships occurred on July 20.

Rank	Swimmer	Nationality	Time
	Chip Peterson	United States	1:46:38.1
	Thomas Lurz	Germany	1:46:45.2
	Petar Stoychev	Bulgaria	1:46:50.4
4	Rondy Gilles	France	1:47:04.9
5	Maarten van der Weijden	Netherlands	1:47:07.4
6	Fabio Venturini	Italy	1:47:09.7
7	Diego Nogueira	Spain	1:47:10.8
8	Brendan Capell	Australia	1:47:11.2
9	Evgeny Drattsev	Russia	1:47:13.3
10	Toni Franz	Germany	1:47:32.5
11	Jarrod Ballem	Canada	1:47:39.5
12	Csaba Gercsak	Hungary	1:47:41.1
13	Mohamed Elzanaty	Egypt	1:47:41.5
14	Josh Santacarerina	Australia	1:47:47.2
15	Bertrand Venturi	France	1:47:54.1
16	Elliot Rushton	Canada	1:47:55.6
17	John Kenny	United States	1:47:55.6
18	Guilherme Bier	Brazil	1:48:15.8
19	Damián Blaum	Argentina	1:48:38.5
20	Francisco Jose Hervas	Spain	1:49:03.2
21	Daniil Serebrennikov	Russia	1:49:33.7
22	Luca Ferretti	Italy	1:53:40.6
23	Gabriel Villagoiz	Argentina	1:53:44.1
24	Kurt Niehaus	Costa Rica	1:55:45.9
25	Rolando Salas	Venezuela	1:57:16.6
26	Johndry Segovia	Venezuela	1:57:16.7
27	Luis Oliveira	Brazil	1:58:41.9
28	Santiago Enderica Salgado	Ecuador	1:59:36.7
29	Kenneth Smith	South Africa	2:00:18.6

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Swimmers tackle Vaal challenge

2006-10-13

Johannesburg - The second leg of Swimming South Africa's Open Water Series takes place on Sunday at the Vaal Dam, and over 300 swimmers are expected to compete in this popular series.

"We are quite excited as we have a big contingent from Soweto who have entered for this leg of the series. There should be over 100 swimmers from Meadowlands, Soweto and the local township of Eligwa," said Neville Smith, Swimming SA Coordinator of Open Water.

With the top open water swimmers competing in Portugal, Tyron Venter from Tuks should be on the winner's podium at this event.

Chad Ho, another top open water swimmer, has not entered but could be a late entry on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the first event of the series was a success with 155 swimmers competing in the Hazelmere Dam in perfect conditions. Swimmers competed in the 1km, 3km and 10km races.

"We are swimming the 10km race now at these events, because it is an Olympic event and our open water swimmers can now use these events to improve their times and perfect their races. Previously, they only had a few events where they could swim in the 10km race," said Smith.

Kenneth Smith, who injured his shoulder in Naples, won the 10km event although he used this event more as a training session. Demi Drakopolous, who is in the senior open water squad, won the 10km event for women.

Ho swam an impressive 3km race and won in 34 minutes 24 seconds, followed by Charl van Zyl and Mark de Swardt.

Kathryn Meaklim won the 3km event for women in a time of 37:20, followed by Lauren Bezuidenhout.

Riaan Schoeman, who recently competed at the World Championships for Juniors in Rio de Janeiro, won the 1km event in a time of 11:15, followed by John Ellis and Ho.

Meaklim also claimed the 1km event in a time of 12:20, followed by Bezuidenhout and Courtney Mower.