Kascha does it again

Ninety-five-year-old Stellenbosch resident, Kascha Kloos, made history just before lockdown when she set first-time South African and provincial records in the 95- to 99-year age group, at the Western Cape Masters Long Course Championships at Stellenbosch University, on Saturday February 16. Ms Kloos, who only started swimming competitively at the age of 84, was thrilled with her results. “It shows me that if you keep on going in something you’ve always done over the years you shouldn’t stop because of your age. I only started competitively swimming because my son, Rainer, was swimming at the Cape Town Masters Swimming Club and he suggested that I start swimming competitively too,” she told Bolander on Friday. But swimming had always been in her blood. “I’ve been swimming almost my entire life, and I taught both swimming and lifesaving when I was younger, but now, I swim for myself,” Ms Kloos said. Because this is the first time that a South African woman has entered in this age group, all of the times of the events Ms Kloos swam in, are South African and Western Province records. Ms Kloos’s achievements are: 50m freestyle  1:28.57; 100m freestyle 3:19.12; 400m freestyle 14:51.89; 50m backstroke  1:37.94; 100m backstroke 3:29.06; and 200m backstroke 7:22.16. Ms Kloos has an illustrious career in masters swimming, having won gold medals in five disciplines at the age of 90, at the 16th Fédération Internationale de Natation/International Swimming Federation) FINA World Masters Championships in Kazan, Russia in August 2015.