The men’s 100m relay swimming team opened the South African medal account at the Olympic Games in Athens on Sunday when they won gold, in a world record-breaking time of 3:13,17. Their time shaved half a second off the record set by the Australian swimming team at the Sydney Olympics.
Roland Schoeman, Lyndon Ferns, Darian Townsend and Ryk Neethling completely dominated both Sunday morning’s heat and the evening final. In the first heat the team posted a time of 3:13,84, almost two seconds ahead of the United States team.
Australia held high hopes of retaining gold and they looked to wonder boy Ian Thorpe and Michael Klim to rescue them from a sixth-ranked qualifying round.
”There was never a moment we were sure. When Ryk touched the wall at 50m we were hoping we would win. With 25m, to go no one was going to catch Ryk,” said Schoeman.
”It was our day. As the movie title says, it was Any Given Sunday, and today was our Sunday. Today is a blessed Sunday. Before we went to the pool I told the team that today was our day, it was our Sunday.
”God has helped us to get to this place.
”On the podium I didn’t know whether to cry or smile,” said an emotionally charged Schoeman.
Ferns said it was no surprise they had done well, but ”it was a surprise to win”.
Neethling added that they had waited 10 years to beat the Australians and Americans. ”Today we proved it can be done. Winning a gold medal feels like a dream. I dreamed about this all my life — 20 years of dreams”.
For Ferns the best thing about winning was knowing that all the work they had done had paid off.
”Nothing is for free. All the work paid off.”
It was a sentiment echoed by coach Graham Hill. ”We have planned this for a long time and brought six swimmers for the relay.”
The commitment and motivation is evident throughout the eight-man South African swimming squad, to the extent that Gerhard Zandberg had predicted the win minutes before the final. ”They’re going to win — there’s no other team that’s going to come close — maybe America.
”But the guys are in way too good shape for any country to beat us, so I wish I could swim that relay. But it’s better to watch from the side, I promise you.”
Schoeman and Neethling will now be marked men for the individual 100m freestyle events later in the week, but as Schoeman said: ”We’re fast and we’re ready and there’s still a few days left.”
Hopefully we can get some more [gold medals] — if not, hey, we’ve got one.” – Sapa