How we won Olympic Gold

Herald Correspondents

Athens – SOUTH Africa’s Golden Boys faced the world yesterday and told how years of dedication and training paid off, and ironically how arch rivals America helped them win an Olympic gold medal.

At a press conference, the triumphant 4 x 100m relay team of Ryk Neethling, Lyndon Ferns, Darian Townsend and Roland Schoeman were the toast of Athens, getting a standing ovation and loud round of applause, along with the cheer “Amandla Awethu” – “Strength in the struggle, strength is ours”.

That was a far cry from just three days ago, when the American Olympic broadcaster NBC called the South Africans to ask them how to pronounce their names.

They stunned everyone inside and outside of the pool when they became instant heroes by winning the first Olympic 2004 gold medal for their country with a world record 3min 13,17sec.

They devastated the fancied Americans and Australians who boosted their teams with Michael Phelps and Ian Thorpe respectively.

But the South Africans left them in their wake as Schoeman, with the fastest reaction time of 0,65sec off the block, set the pace with his 48,17sec.

Ferns was quicker than Phelps (48,74) in his leg with 48,13sec and Townsend kept the momentum going with 48,96. Then big Neethling opened up with a spectacular 47,91 to beat Australia’s world record of 3:13,67 set at Sydney 2000. They paid fulsome tribute to their coach, American Rick DeMont, an Olympic winner who had his gold medal taken away.

Three of the four members of the squad are coached at the University of Arizona by DeMont, who won the Olympic 400m freestyle in 1972, only to be disqualified because medicine he had taken for his asthma contained, unbeknown to him, a banned substance.

DeMont, who Schoeman said had experienced “so much adversity”, was not present to receive the accolade.

“He’s a very calming influence,” said Neethling. “About 10 minutes before the race, we had just got out from warming up and he told us a story which made us laugh. He’s been in big situations before. Obviously he’s an awesome coach.”

They remembered that one heart-stopping moment when Ferns, in his wild excitement, reached way down from the block to give Neethling a high-five and almost fell forward into the pool, but he was grabbed and steadied by Schoeman at the last moment.

World rules stipulate disqualification if team members jump into the water to celebrate victory with the anchor swimmer.

“He nearly went in. I grabbed him back just in time” said Schoeman at the international media conference attended by Sports Minister Makhenkesi Stofile before his departure to South Africa yesterday. Neethling said: “Few people in and outside of swimming gave us a chance here.

“We knew we were fast, but we didn’t know how fast and we surprised even ourselves with that world record.”

Neethling said the American favourites had played into their hands with their team selection. The substitution of three swimmers from the heats – a switch which involved, among others, the introduction of multi-gold crusader Phelps for the seasoned Gary Hall Jr – had suited the South Africans

“We kind of thought that was the best way for us to beat them. That really played into our hands.

“Everyone talks about Phelps . . . Michael Phelps everything. We were kind of glad he was there, to be honest.”

“I knew we could be good, but I didn’t know we could be this good. I know most of you didn’t believe us when we said we had a shot at winning a medal.

Schoeman, who has lived in the US for six years, said they would never have won if they had remained in South Africa.

“I don’t think South Africa has the facilities or the competition,” he said. “I don’t think it has the support you have in America. I don’t think I’d have succeeded to this degree.”

Neethling, 26, said he would love to be based in his home country, like the last of the quartet, Darian Townsend, but politics got in the way of funding back home.

“I definitely think there’s more good things to come from this team. I’m kind of the grandpa of the team. These guys are still young and they’re going to get a lot faster. If I can hang in there and they don’t kick me out, I’d love to swim.”

Neethling and Townsend sacrificed competing in the 200m freestyle to keep their outstanding form intact.

Schoeman, who may have a surprise in store in the 50m and 100m freestyle events, said he gave the glory of his swim to God and would consider his future after the Olympics. “If I can manage it financially, I’ll carry on swimming.

“ There’s no such thing as professional swimming in South Africa. I need to live comfortably without restrictions.

“Also having a sports scientist here with us would have helped with recovery advice in the South African camp.”

Townsend, who turns 20 on August 28 and who matriculated at Maritzburg College in 2002, leaves on September 3 shortly after arriving home from the Olympics to a scholarship at the University of Florida.

“I would have liked to have joined Roland, Ryk and Lyndon at Tucson (Arizona). There was communication, but I hadn’t heard anything from them by the time I got in at Florida.”

Ferns’s jubilation was compounded by the fact that he made it into the team after a dramatic swim-off time trial in Athens last week in which he displaced Karl Thaning and Eugene Botes.

The youngster, who grew up in Marble Hall in the Northern Province, recently joined Schoeman and Neethling at Tucson.

The pair, who have been low-profile icons among soccer, rugby and cricket-mad South Africans, have made huge sacrifices in their commitment and spent thousands of hours in the pool over the last decade to peak at these Games. South African team leader Hajera Kajee paid an emotional tribute to the swimmers and said she spoke on behalf of millions in thanking them for their commitment and effort.

She said afterwards that Nocsa were still talking to their business partners about incentives for medals. In Sydney, athletes were offered R1-million for gold, R500 000 for silver and R250 000 for bronze.

The sports minister, who was conducting political affairs with Slovenians, paid tribute to the swimmers and said he would have loved to have stayed on. “But I’m not the Minister of Olympics, I have other sporting events to attend to,” quipped Mr Stofile.

“But, like that Elvis Presley song, you will be ‘forever on my mind’.”

SA Olympic Committee president Sam Ramsamy recounted the story of when the Olympic torch arrived in South Africa.

“We took it to Robben Island and (Nelson) Mandela told everyone that this was the place where he was in prison for so many years. Then he said, jokingly, that our athletes would end up there if they didn’t do well at the Olympics.

“So now our athletes are safe,” Mr Ramsamy said with a smile.

Today the focus falls on Neethling and Schoeman when they compete in the 100m individual freestyle.

Neethling takes on Pieter van den Hoogenband of the Netherlands and American Ian Crocker, while Schoeman has to contend with Thorpe and Russian Andrey Kapralov.

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