In South Africa, Ryk Neethling, is a 'rock star' and Ryk sites training in the US and the culture therein for his success

I hope the title does not come off as jingoistic or frantically patriotic for I hate it when a politician or a political party takes credit for a good economy or burgeoning culture as a result of their particular policies. America is great because of the people, the culture, and the innovation herein that we the people have created. It is NOT due to any politician's or political parties contributions.

Ryk Neethling acknowledges the American culture in a speech he gave to the Women In Business Support Initiative in South Africa recently.

Ryk Neethling, gold medalist in the 4x100 free relay at the Athens 2004 Olympics, 9-time NCAA National Champion, Arizona Athlete of the Year and PAC-10 Athlete of the Year for four consecutive years, 1999 NCAA Swimmer of the Year, then there was the University of Arizona Athlete of the Century award and he got to date Playboy Bunny, Amanda Beard, for 6 years according to Wikipedia.

Note that the bulk of his accomplishment happened on the American continent where these sublime accomplishments are mostly under the pop-culture radar but in South Africa, Ryk is a "rock star." From an article I found while searching up Yoga and swimming:

"...Olympic gold medalist Ryk Neethling found himself in the midst of a storm of women begging to have a picture taken with the South African swimming hero. ...

Ryk, South African’s Olympic gold medalist in swimming, was reflecting on the difference between South Africa and the time he spent in America where everything works well. Now that he is back home, he is positive about the change that people can effect in the lives of the less fortunate. Ryk was the guest speaker at the Women In Business Support Initiative (Wibsi) in Lynnwood...

He pointed out that the difference between America and South Africa is that people there know how to dream big and are therefore successful. ...

After his remarkable achievements in the previous Olympic games, Ryk hopes to be successful at the next Olympic games in Beijing in 2008. Until then, he is training hard and swimming at least 10km a day, he does spinning and even has time for yoga in preparation for his final Olympic games. ..."

His shared Advice can be read here: [Link]

I love that photo above of the two fans posing with Ryk. It was located at Flickr.com in escolme's photostream. Here is a direct link to the photo: [Link]