Athens - Roland Schoeman may have missed becoming South Africa's swimming sprint king of the world by 0.15 seconds, but he still can walk tall.
He claimed the distinction of being the first South African to win three medals at an Olympic Games when he added bronze to gold and silver at the Aquatic Centre in Athens on Friday night.
The charismatic 24-year-old's spectacular tale at these Olympics will go down in history as having spearheaded the 4x100m relay team of Lyndon Ferns, Darian Townsend and Ryk Neethling to a 3:13.17 world record.
On Friday night he had the swimming world abuzz after going into the finals as the fastest semi-finalist.
Even though his reaction time off the block was quickest at 0.62sec, America's Gary Hall who came into the pool area dressed in the Stars and Stripes as though he were moving into the ring for Wrestlemania, beat him.
His power at the end was too much for the mercurial Schoeman, who touched at 22.02sec against Hall's 21.93 and the 21.94 of Duje Draganja of Croatia.
But, what a treasury of medals he takes home, second only to the double-gold of Penny Heyns who remains SA's top success story with two breaststroke golds in Atlanta 1996.
On Wednesday, Schoeman won silver in the 100m freestyle, leading through the turn, then conceding the gold by 0.06 to Pieter van den Hoogenband of The Netherlands, who won in 48.17.
A deserved hero back home
The Tucson University-based sprinter has become a sensation at the Olympics, a role model to his fellow Olympic athletes and an inspiration to all swimmers.
He is a deserved hero back home.
Gerhard Zandberg, Terrence Parkin, Eugene Botes and Karl Thaning were visibly disappointed in the men's 4 x 100m medley relay, finishing eighth in the second of two heats.
The foursome's time ranked them 13th overall.
"This is the first time all four of us have swum together.
"We had three during the pre-games meet, but never the whole four. We did our best."
