Roland Schoeman, infected by gold fever after spearheading South Africa’s 4x100m freestyle relay team to a world-record gold on Sunday night, threw down the gauntlet to favourites Pieter van Hoogenband and Ian Thorpe in the 100m freestyle semifinal at the Olympic Aquatic Centre in Athens on Tuesday night.
”We haven’t finished yet,” said Schoeman after his relay gold. And he showed on Tuesday he means business.
Schoeman’s reaction time off the block was a lightning-fast 0,64 seconds as he surged to be the fastest semifinalist in 48,39 seconds — after turning at a mercurial 22,66 seconds — for Wednesday night’s final, which will also feature Ryk Neethling, who anchored South Africa’s victorious relay team.
Van den Hoogenband, the Sydney Olympics champion of The Netherlands, touched at 48,55 seconds after a 23,34-second turn and Neethling finished fifth in 49,18 seconds to post a faster passage into the finals than Australia’s Thorpe, who went through in 49,18 seconds.
It was touch-and-go for Schoeman in the heats in the morning, however. He appeared pensive at the start and turned in second to finish fourth in the heat won by Thorpe in a time of 49,17 seconds. With the times in the last four heats all faster than his 49,68 seconds, he waited in apprehension before confirming his qualification.
The international media focused strongly on Schoeman afterwards and asked the livewire who is studying at Tucson University why he thought the favourites are struggling. He shrugged and said: ”I’ve no idea. The big names are struggling here for some reason. I don’t know. I don’t care. I don’t mind. It gives us smaller names more opportunities.”
On Tuesday’s performance, the swimmers continue to keep spirits soaring in the South African camp in the build-up to track and field that kicks off with the shot put at the ancient Olympia Stadium on Wednesday when Janus Robberts and Burger Lambrechts become a part of Olympic history.
Jacques Freitag was smiling after a training session that left him pain-free after a scare when he twisted his troublesome ankle in training last week. Applied kinesiologist Ron Holder, flown in from London, had the world high-jump champion back in physical alignment and mental balance.
Archer Kirsten Lewis continued to shine with a major upset, beach volleyball players Leigh Ann Naidoo and Julia Willand kept pride intact in going down to highly ranked Cuba, but the men’s hockey suffered a frustrating defeat after being 2-0 up, then losing 4-2 to India who hammered two quick nails into their coffin in the final 90 seconds of their match at the Hellinico Olympic complex.
Sydney 2000 silver-medal winner Terence Parkin also performed above form to get into the 200m breaststroke semifinal, but he failed to make the final.
Lewis has emerged as the revelation of the South African Olympic team after she beat India’s 20th-ranked Sharma Sum-an-gala with 157 points against 153 at the 2 300-year-old Panathinaiko Stadium that forms a majestic U-shape at the foot of Ardittou Hill in the ancient city.
The victory surges her into the top eight of the competition.
Lewis is a natural in applying the focus and relaxation needed to excel in archery. That much she showed in the heat and swirling wind when she hit the red middle of the target with six 10s out of 18 shots for her upset.
Her British coach, Ian Simpson, a real character, sings to amuse and relax her.
”I enjoy laughing and joking with Ian during competition,” said Lewis, who meets her strongest competition in the fourth-ranked He Ying of China on Wednesday. ”My favourite tune is Always Look on the Bright Side of Life.
”I’ve got to show my opponents that I’m getting excited about the arrows. They assume you’re shooting well and you hope it intimidates them.”
”The secret of coaching is to keep her jolly,” said Simpson.
In the hockey, Greg Nicol and Craig Fulton scored in the seventh and 12th minutes, then the team fell apart as the Indians came back at them in the 27th, 41st, 69th and 70th minutes.
”This was very disappointing,” said Nicol afterwards. ”We should have held possession because they are lethal on the counter-attack. We should have won this.”
The men, who started off superbly by beating Argentina 2-1 on Saturday, need to lift their game when they play The Netherlands on Thursday if they hope to go through to the semis.
South Africa’s beach volleyball players put on a lively and defiant display in going down to medal-contenders Cuba at the Hellenico centre.
Cuba, the pool leaders, edged ahead of Naidoo and Willand by two sets to love, but it was no easy pickings as the South Africans stretched their opponents 21-19 and 21-16. The pairing exit from Olympic competition, but they can hold their heads high after Tuesday’s performance.
In judo, Moller was eliminated in the 63kg classification by North Korean Song Ok Hong.
In other Olympic action on Wednesday, cyclist Robert Hunter races the 48km time trial, the hockey women take on Korea and the youngest Olympic gold medallist in South Africa, 19-year-old Darian Townsend, follows up his relay triumph by racing the 200m individual relay heats in the morning.
Colin Pocock and Gershon Rorich are in beach volleyball action, while Gareth Blanckenberg returns to the sailing centre in his laser for rescheduled racing. — Sapa