Editing Ryk Neethling (section)

===International competition highlights=== 
Neethling participated in the [[1998 Commonwealth Games]], winning the silver medal in the 1500&nbsp;m freestyle, but only capturing a fifth place at the [[1998 World Aquatics Championships]]. In 1999 he had a better performance at the [[Pan Pacific Swimming Championships|Pan Pacific Championships]] winning silver in the 1500&nbsp;m freestyle, and bronze in the 400&nbsp;m and 200&nbsp;m freestyle.<ref name=swimhistory/> 

After achieving a disappointing fifth place in the 1500&nbsp;m freestyle event and an eighth in the 400&nbsp;m freestyle at the [[2000 Summer Olympics]] in Sydney, he decided to quit competing in the 1500&nbsp;m event, preferring to focus on the 50&nbsp;m and 100&nbsp;m freestyle events. At the [[2002 Commonwealth Games]] he captured a bronze medal in the 100&nbsp;m freestyle and finished 4th in the 50&nbsp;m freestyle events. At the [[2006 Commonwealth Games]] he captured a silver in the 100&nbsp;m freestyle and was part of the S.A gold medal winning 4×100&nbsp;m freestyle relay team.  He won three individual gold medals at the 2006 [[FINA World Aquatics Championships]] in Shanghai.<ref name=Olympedia/><ref name=swimhistory/> 

In November 2005, he announced that he had refused a multimillion-dollar offer by [[Qatar]]'s Olympic body to switch nationalities and swim for Qatar at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.<ref name=Olympedia/><ref name=swimhistory/>