Athens - Roland Schoeman claimed South Africa's second medal of the Olympics, fending off Australian great Ian Thorpe to take silver - his second medal in four days.
On a day in which South Africa's highly rated rowing pair nearly crashed out of the Games - literally - and medal prospect Janus Robberts "tensed up" to fail in his shot put quest, Schoeman flew the flag high for South Africa.
Schoeman, a member of South Africa's gold-winning relay team on Sunday, failed to outlast against defending champion Pieter van den Hoogenband.
Even so, he was far from disappointed, clenching his right fist in triumph moments after receiving his medal.
"You spend your whole life dreaming of getting to the Olympics, let alone winning gold and silver. Some people may say I lost gold, but I won silver."
The race was bittersweet for compatriot Ryk Neethling, however, cracking a personal best that was good enough only for fourth place.
Schoeman and Lyndon Ferns, who swam the second leg in South Africa's spectacular relay victory on Sunday, line up in the final heat of the men's 50m freestyle on Thursday morning, facing off against defending champion Gary Hall of the US and 2000 bronze medallist Pieter van den Hoogenband of Holland.
The rowing pair of Donovan Cech and Ramon di Clemente fought back from fourth place to near the front of their semi-final on Wednesday - needing a top-three finish to make the six-boat final - but a clash of oars with Canadians Dave Calder and Chris Jarvis just metres from the line saw them end fourth.
Consolation final
Cech immediately objected, claiming Canada had strayed into their water, and Canada were disqualified.
But then the North Americans appealed the decision, and several nail-biting hours later organisers decided to allow them to contest the consolation final, also on Saturday.
Gershon Rorich and Colin Pocock overcame Portugal's Miguel Maia and Joao Brenha, fourth at the Sydney Games, to win a spot in the final 16 of the men's beach volleyball. The SA duo won two sets to love, but it was a tight contest at 22-20 22-20.
Archer Kirsten Lewis was unable to unseat Atlanta silver medallist Ying He of China, succumbing by 14 points - 142 to 156. Lewis's best score of the Olympics was the 157 she managed in the second round.
Robberts and compatriot Burger Lambrechts failed to make an impact in the shot put arena at the Olympic birthplace of Olympia - some four hours from Athens - finishing 12th and 18th in the morning qualifying session.
Lambrechts was never expected to achieve greatness, but Robberts, ranked fifth in the world, was. Yet he managed only one throw that counted, and that was a less-than-modest 19.41m. In the warm-up before, he heaved the put beyond 20m.
Sailor Gareth Blanckenburg claimed his best result in the Laser class to date, an 11th position which places him 20th overall with five of the 11 races remaining.
The women's hockey team lost yet again, this time to Korea by 3-0.
