Double medallist Roland Schoeman was back in action on Thursday morning to qualify through the men’s 50m freestyle heats along with relay gold medallist Lyndon Ferns.
With a little more than 12 hours to recover from adding a silver medal to the relay gold of Sunday night, Schoeman was back on the blocks aiming to get triple.
In customary fashion, Schoeman blasted from the blocks with the fastest reaction time to lead the 11th and final heat at 25m.
The United States’s Gary Hall and Algeria’s Salim Iles closed and beat Schoeman to the touch with Hall recording the top-ranked time of 22,04 seconds.
Working from lane six, Lyndon Ferns had Schoeman to use as a marker and although slower to the water, he fought hard to finish fifth in his heat and just crept into the semifinals in 22,53 seconds.
In achieving qualification, Ferns prevented Dutchman Pieter van den Hoogenband from making the cut, which on current form could be an important advantage.
Focus is the name of the game as Schoeman and Ferns swiftly side-stepped their way through the media to prepare their attack on Thursday’s semifinals.
Hall is the top-ranked 50m exponent of the season with a 21,91 from the national trials to his name, with Schoeman second recording 21,98 from the nationals in Durban, a time he shares with the US’s Jason Lezak who only qualified in third place in heat three.
Any of the 16 semifinalists can progress to Friday’s final. The event drew 83 starters in 11 heats, with the top 30 separated by 0,97 seconds and the top 16 split by 0,5 seconds. A semifinal place will be lost and won in a blink of an eye or reaction time from the blocks, which is where Schoeman excels.
Eugene Botes debuted in the Olympics on Thursday morning, but the US-based swimmer failed to make the cut in the 100m butterfly. After turning in fifth position, Botes dropped to seventh in 54,15 seconds for a 30th ranking from the heats.
”It’s not my best time, so I’m disappointed,” said Botes, whose next outing will be the 4x100m medley. ”We will give it our best shot, but will do well to get into the last eight.”
Loss for hockey
Meanwhile, the South African men’s hockey team lost their third pool match against The Netherlands 3-2, having led 2-1 at half-time.
Goals by Steven Evans in the 16th minute and Ian Symons from a penalty corner put South Africa 2 -0 up after 22 minutes. However, two minutes later The Netherlands’ Jan-Geert Derikx scored off a penalty corner to start the comeback, which continued unanswered in the second half.
”We are disappointed,” lamented captain Craig Jackson. ”A few things went against us. We played well for 60-65 minutes, couldn’t manage to score a goal in the last minutes of the match. Yet we should keep our heads high for the next game. I’m proud of our performance.”
After three matches, the South Africans are lying fourth in the pool headed by The Netherlands. The team have their final pool match against Australia on Saturday. — Sapa
Special Report: Olympics 2004