Johannesburg - Sam Ramsamy, president of the National Olympic Committee of South Africa (Nocsa) has declared Team South Africa's participation in the Athens Olympic Games as a success.
Speaking on the teams' arrival at Johannesburg International Airport on Tuesday morning, Ramsamy said that he was very happy with the athletes performances.
"Our aim was to improve on Sydney when we came back with five medals," said Ramsamy.
"We did that, plus we brought home a gold and for that I am very pleased," he said of South Africa's haul of one gold, three silver and two bronze.
"This is a very young team and I hope for Beijing things will get even better."
And South Africa's 2008 athletes would do well to scale the heights of the men's 4x100m freestyle team. Roland Schoeman, Lyndon Ferns, Damian Townsend and Ryk Neethling not only won SA's only Olympic gold medal of the Games, but also shattered the world record.
For Schoeman, who went on to win silver in the 100m freestyle and bronze in the 50m, the highlight for him was the medal ceremony following the gold-winning effort.
"Walking out, seeing all the SA flags and knowing you had won was awesome," said the one of the most decorated Olympic swimmers in South African history.
"To know that you have overcome adversity and you're the best is amazing."
'Ten years of hard work'
Team-mate Neethling said that all the years of pain and training were well worth it. "Winning the gold means far more than the value of the metal itself," he said. "It's been 10 years of hard work."
While it was a lot of hard graft that pushed the swimmers to glory, it was sheer guts that saw rowers Donovan Cech and Ramon di Clemente to bronze.
Going into the final after just four hours sleep due to the controversy of the Canadian crew who invaded their lane in the semi-final, the duo also had to deal with back injuries.
"Yes, we both had ligament problems in the lower back," said Di Clemente.
"But we thought that this (the Olympics) only comes around every four years, so let's give it a good shot."
While most of South Africa's track and field athletes fell out with below-par performances, it was left to high jumper Hestrie Cloete and 800m athlete Mbulaeni Mulaudzi to add to South Africa's medal tally.
Cloete eventually conceded the gold to Russia's Yelena Slesarenko who cleared an Olympic record 2.06m and Mulaudzi surprised everyone with his second place in the 800m final.
Both athletes did not join the jubilant South African contingent on the flight home due to commitments in Europe.
Ramsamy also confirmed that this would be his last Olympics as he is not seeking re-election.
