Roland Mark Schoeman OIS (born 4 July 1980) is a South African and American former swimmer was a world record holder in multiple events, and was a member of the South African swimming team at the

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and

2012 Olympic Games The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

. He won a gold medal representing South Africa in the 4x100 freestyle relay at the 2004 Athens Olympics and between 2000-2014 won numerous medals including seven golds in freestyle, and butterfly events at the World Championships, Pan American, and Commonwealth games.

Early life and overview

Born in

Pretoria Pretoria ( ; ) is the Capital of South Africa, administrative capital of South Africa, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to the country. Pretoria strad ...

on July 4, 1980, Schoeman first took an interest in the sport when he was 13, and began to compete three years later. He said he began swimming only to impress a girl he met. He attended Pretoria's Willow Ridge High School, where he trained under coach Gavin Ross. In 1998, shortly before beginning college at the University of Arizona, he finished sixth in the 50 and 100 meter freestyles at the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lampur. In his career he would attain a gold, silver and bronze medal at the

2004 Olympic Games The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

; three gold, a silver and a bronze medal in the

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

s, as well as four gold, three silvers and three bronzes at the

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games is a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations, which consists mostly, but not exclusively, of territories of the former British Empire. The event was first held in 1930 ...

. He set new South African records in the 100 m Freestyle (48.69 s), 50 m Freestyle (22.04 s), 100 m Butterfly (52.73 s) and 50 m Butterfly (23.65 s) events.

University of Arizona

Schoeman attended the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...

on a swimming scholarship between 1998-2002, where he was coached by ASCAA Hall of Fame Coach Frank Busch and Assistant Coach

Rick DeMont Richard James DeMont (born April 21, 1956) is an American former competition swimming (sport), swimmer, world champion, and former world record-holder in multiple events. Despite placing first in the 400-meter freestyle at the 1972 Summer Olymp ...

. Coach DeMont also served as a primary coach for Schoeman's South African Team at the 2004 Athens and 2008 Beijing Olympics. As a collegiate swimmer at the University of Arizona, DeMont had held world records in both the 400-meter and 1500-meter freestyle, and excelled at middle and long distance freestyle events, making him a skilled mentor for advancing Schoeman's freestyle technique. In 2000, at the NCAA Men's Swimming and Diving Championships in Minnesota, while swimming as a Sophomore, Schoeman tied the short course world record in the 50-meter freestyle with a time of 21.31. While at Arizona in 2002, he again won the NCAA Championship in the 50-meter freestyle, in addition to capturing several runner-up finishes and multiple All-American honors. Roland would later became the first person ever to record a time of less than 21 seconds in the 50 meter freestyle.

2000-2012 Olympics

Schoeman competed for South Africa in the 2000 Sydney Olympics in the 50-meter freestyle placing eleventh and the 100 meter freestyle event placing fifteenth, as well as the 4x100 meter freestyle relay where his team placed eleventh.

Three 2004 Olympic medals

Schoeman won three medals at the 2004 Olympics, making him the first South African to win three medals in one Olympics. He won a gold medal in the 4 × 100 m freestyle. He captured the silver medal in the 100 m freestyle event recording a time of 48.23. Schoeman and South African teammate Neethling led in the first half of the 100 meter event, but Pieter Van Den Hoogenband of the Netherlands had a strong finish to defend his title and take the gold medal. Schoeman won a bronze in the 50 m freestyle with a time of 22.02 in a typically close finish. Though leading in the early portion of the 50-meter event, Schoeman faded to third place, finishing only .08 seconds behind the unexpected second place silver medalist, Duje Draganja of Croatia. In his most memorable event at the 2004 games, Schoeman helped South Africa upset the Netherlands and the dominant United States in the 4x100 meter freestyle relay, an historic upset. The 2004 4x100 meter Olympic gold medal South African relay team consisted of Schoeman, Lyndon Ferns, Darian Townsend, and

Ryk Neethling Ryk Neethling OIS (born 17 November 1977) is a South African businessman who rose to prominence as a three-time World Aquatic Champion and four-time World Record breaking Olympic swimming champion, participating in four Olympics for South Af ...

. As one of the events faster swimmers, Schoeman's opening leg in the 4x100 freestyle relay opened up a lead that remained throughout the race defeating the second place Netherlands teams by a second and defeating the United States team which took the bronze. Ryk Neethling swam the fastest time of the South African 4x100 relay team in the final heat and insured the South African win, despite a close finish. At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Schoeman participated in the 50-meter freestyle and the 4x100 meter freestyle relay finishing seventh in both events. At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Schoeman, aged 32, advanced to the finals in the men's 50 m freestyle though he finished sixth, clocking a 21.80 in the finals to finish 0.46 seconds behind the gold medal winner, Florent Manaudou. In 2016, Schoeman missed qualifying for a fifth Olympics.

2006 Commonwealth games

Three of the Men's 4x100 metre Freestyle team at the 2004 Olympics were in the team that broke the record and won gold at the

2006 Commonwealth Games The 2006 Commonwealth Games, officially the XVIII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Melbourne 2006, were an International sport, international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth held in Melbourne ...

. He also claimed golds at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in the 100m freestyle and 100m butterfly.

2001, 2005, 2007 World Aquatic Championships

Schoeman won a bronze in the 50 meter freestyle at the 2001 World Aquatics Championships. At the 2005 FINA World Aquatics Championships in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, Quebec, Canada he won two gold medals [50 m Butterfly (in a world record time of 22.96 s) and Freestyle (21.69 s, the second fastest time in history at the time). He also claimed a silver in 100 m freestyle. At the 2007 FINA World Aquatics Championships in Melbourne Australia he successfully defended his 50m butterfly title. He also made the final of the 50 m and 100 m freestyle and was part of the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay team that finished fourth. In December 2005, he turned down a 40 Million Rand (US$5.9 million) contract to swim for Qatar. He turned down the offer due to his own national pride and because he felt the sound of the South African national anthem and the experience of sharing pride in his victories with other citizens of South Africans is what made winning gold special. After his elite swimming career ended, he competed in the 1 Mile Flowers Sea Swim at the Cayman Islands in June 2018, finishing with a time of 24:05.

Doping ban

In July 2019, Schoeman received a provisional suspension after testing positive for GW501516 (Cardarine) in an out-of-competition test on May 18, 2019. FINA (now World Aquatics) initially imposed a one-year ban set to end in May 2020, accepting the claim of unintentional ingestion from a contaminated supplement. However, the

World Anti-Doping Agency The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA; , AMA) is an international organization co-founded by the governments of over 140 nations along with the International Olympic Committee based in Canada to promote, coordinate, and monitor the fight against d ...

(WADA) appealed FINA's decision to the

Court of Arbitration for Sport The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS; , TAS) is an international body established in 1984 to settle disputes related to sport through arbitration. Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland, and its courts are located in New York City, Sy ...

(CAS). After a lengthy process, it was publicly reported in September 2022 that CAS had ruled the ban should be increased to two years, effectively extending his ineligibility until May 2021.

Life after swimming career

Following his swimming career in May 2022, he also became a citizen of the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. In 2023 he was part of the Enhanced Games athletes advisory commission.

Records

Schoeman was the former individual world record holder in the Long Course Meters 50 butterfly, Short Course Meters 50 freestyle, Short Course Meters 100 freestyle, and Short Course Meters 100 individual medley. On 6 September 2008, Schoeman set a new short course meters (25 m pool) world record of 20.64 for a 50-meter swim at South African Nationals. He lost his world record in late 2008 but regained it in August 2009. At the South Africa Short Course Championships, Schoeman recorded a time of 20.30 seconds for the 50-meter event, which was broken in 2014 by Florent Manaudou. Overall, Schoeman has broken three long course world records with two individual, and one relay, and six individual short course world records.

Honors

Schoeman, who is asthmatic, was voted the African Swimmer of the Year by Swimming World in 2004, 2005 and 2006; and the South African Swimmer of the Year in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006. He was elected South African Sports Star of the Year in 2004. In 2007, he received the South African Presidential Award Order of Ikhamanga in Silver, awarded for excellent achievements in the field of swimming. In 2004 he was inducted into the

University of Pretoria The University of Pretoria (, ) is a multi-campus public university, public research university in Pretoria, the administrative and ''de facto'' capital of South Africa. The university was established in 1908 as the Pretoria campus of the Johan ...

Sport Hall of fame. In 2007 he was inducted into the

Sports Hall of Fame. In August, 2024, he was inducted into the South Africa Sports Hall of Fame, along with the three other swimmers who won the gold medal in the 4x100 meter freestyle relay at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Schoeman, Roland 1980 births Living people Afrikaner people Swimmers from Pretoria South African people of Dutch descent University of Pretoria alumni South African male butterfly swimmers South African male freestyle swimmers Commonwealth Games gold medallists for South Africa Commonwealth Games gold medallists in swimming Commonwealth Games silver medallists for South Africa Commonwealth Games silver medallists in swimming Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for South Africa Commonwealth Games bronze medallists in swimming Olympic swimmers for South Africa Olympic gold medalists for South Africa Olympic silver medalists for South Africa Olympic bronze medalists for South Africa Swimmers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 1998 Commonwealth Games Swimmers at the 2002 Commonwealth Games Swimmers at the 2006 Commonwealth Games Swimmers at the 2010 Commonwealth Games World record holders in swimming Olympic bronze medalists in swimming World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Recipients of the Order of Ikhamanga Olympic gold medalists in swimming Olympic silver medalists in swimming Goodwill Games medalists in swimming Competitors at the 2001 Goodwill Games Medallists at the 2002 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 2006 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 2010 Commonwealth Games 21st-century South African sportsmen Doping cases in swimming South African sportspeople in doping cases Enhanced Games