Chad Ho (born 21 June 1990) is a South African open water swimmer, who specialises in 10 km and 5 km marathon swimming.[1] Educated at Westville Boys' High School, he is considered one of the fastest professional open water swimmers in the world, having won the overall series title at the 2010 FINA World Cup and attended the Olympic Game's twice - 2008 and 2016. He is also currently a seven-time titleholder of the Midmar Mile.[2]
At the 2009 FINA World Championships in Rome, Italy, Ho became the first South African to win a medal in open water swimming, taking the bronze in the 5 km marathon, for a fastest possible time of 56:41.9.[5] He also finished twenty-third in the 10 km marathon, with a time of 1:53:13.1, exactly one second behind his record time from the Olympics. The following year, he reinforced his lead in the FINA 10 km Marathon Swimming World Cup circuit, by reaching the top position in all eight meets of the series.[6] Although he only won the sixth meet in Hong Kong, Ho's victory margin of 27 seconds was the largest in the series, which declared him the overall titleholder.[7] Because of his outstanding achievement in the World Cup, and his commitment to the sport, Ho was nominated as 2010 World Open Water Swimming Man of the Year.[8]
In 2012, Ho offered another shot for a bid to the Summer Olympics in London, by participating at the FINA Olympic Marathon Swim Qualifier, held in Setubal, Portugal.[10] He competed against a field of 61 open water swimmers including Stoychev, David Davies of Great Britain, and Oussama Mellouli of Tunisia, who previously won an Olympic gold medal from the pool. Ho, however, failed to qualify for his supposedly second Olympics, after finishing in twelfth place, with a time of 1:46:29.4.[11][12]
