Olympic gold medalist Ryk Neethling is a man of many talents. He kicks serious butt in the swimming pool, knows how to strut his stuff in Jenna Clifford ads and has a successful second career in property development.
That’s why we were absolutely thrilled when we heard Ryk decided to donate one of his prized Val de Vie polo shirts for display on BrightRock’s #LoveChange Showcase during the fourth episode of The Dan Nicholl Show! Val de Vie is – of course – the beautiful residential estate (with glitzy polo field and all!) in the Cape Winelands where Ryk has a very successful career as their Marketing Director. Luckily our man Dan didn’t try on the shirt during the show like he did with Miss SA, Liesl Laurie’s sash! Watch the special moment where Ryk handed over the shirt below:
Ryk had many Big Breaks in his international swimming career, but an undisputed highlight was when he, Roland Schoeman, Lyndon Ferns and Darian Townsend won a gold medal in the 4 x 100m men’s relay at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. They managed to clock this freestyle relay in 3 minutes and 13.17 seconds to triumph over the Netherlands (2nd) and the US team (3rd). Watch Ryk relive this Big Change Moment below:
After becoming the first South African to compete in four successive Olympic Games (between 1996 and 2008), Ryk managed to reinvent himself when he had another Big Break in his career, this time in the property market. He explains the importance of this reinvention below:
