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Roland Schoeman

Personal information
Full name	Roland Mark Schoeman
Nationality	South Africa
Stroke(s)	freestyle, butterfly, breaststroke
Club	Northern Tigers Swimming
College team	Arizona Wildcats (USA)
Date of birth	3 July 1980 (1980-07-03) (age 29)
Place of birth	Pretoria, South Africa
Medal record Men’s swimming Competitor for  South Africa Olympic Games Gold 2004 Athens[1] 4x100 m freestyle Silver 2004 Athens 100 m freestyle Bronze 2004 Athens 50 m freestyle World Championships Gold 2005 Montreal[2] 50 m freestyle Gold 2005 Montreal 50 m butterfly Gold 2007 Melbourne[3] 50 m butterfly Silver 2005 Montreal 100 m freestyle Bronze 2001 Fukuoka 50 m freestyle Commonwealth Games Gold 2006 Melbourne[4] 50 m freestyle Gold 2006 Melbourne 50 m butterfly Gold 2006 Melbourne 4 x 100 m freestyle relay Gold 2002 Manchester[5] 50 m freestyle Silver 2002 Manchester 50 m butterfly Silver 2002 Manchester 4 x 100 m freestyle relay Bronze 2006 Melbourne 100 m freestyle Pan Pacific Championships Silver 2006 Victoria 50 m freestyle Bronze 2006 Victoria 100 m freestyle

Roland Mark Schoeman (born 3 July 1980) is a South African swimmer and a member of the 2004 Olympic Games swimming team for South Africa.

He is the current World record holder in the short-course 50 meters freestyle, with a time of 20.30 seconds.

Career

Born in Pretoria, Schoeman first ventured seriously into a pool when he was 16, in order to show a girl how interested he was in her.^[6] Within a few months he was swimming competitively, beginning a career that would see him attain one gold medal, two silvers and a bronze at the Commonwealth Games and 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.

His latest achievements have been winning a gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens in the 4 x 100 m freestyle, a silver medal in the 100 m freestyle event and a bronze in the 50 m freestyle. Three of the Men's 100 metre Freestyle team were in the team that broke the record and won gold at the 2006 Commonwealth Games. He also claimed golds in the 100m freestyle and 100m butterfly.

Schoeman was voted Africa's Male Athlete of the year in 2004.

At the 2005 LC World Championships in Montreal, 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.

In December 2005, Schoeman turned down a 40 Million Rand (US$5.9 million) contract to swim for Qatar^[7]. He stated reasons of national pride for turning down the offer and that hearing the South African national anthem and sharing the joy of his victories with his fellow South Africans is what made winning gold special.

On 12 August 2006, Schoeman broke the short course world record for 50 metres freestyle and became the first man to swim the distance under 21 seconds, with a time of 20.98 seconds. Schoeman lowered the previous mark by 0.12 seconds held for the last two years by Frédérick Bousquet of France. Schoeman was swimming in a specially built 25-metre pool at an invitational meeting in a Hamburg tennis stadium.

At the 2007 LC World 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 4x100 m freestyle relay team that finished 4th. On September 6, 2008 Roland Schoeman set a new short course meters world record of 20.64 at South African Nationals. Schoeman, lost his world record in late 2008 but regained his record. At the Short Course World Record at South Africa Championships, Schoeman swam a 20.30 seconds of the 50 S.C.M freestyle.

World records (current and former)

Current WR	Event	Record	Date	Event	Location
Long course (50 m pool)
	4×100 m Freestyle	3:13.17 s	August 15, 2004	2004 Summer Olympics	Athens, Greece
	50 m Butterfly	23.01 s	July 24, 2005	2005 World Championships	Montreal, Canada
	50 m Butterfly	22.96 s	July 25, 2005
Short course (25 m pool)
	100 m Freestyle	46.25 s	January 22, 2005	World Cup series	Berlin, Germany
	50 m Freestyle	20.64 s	September 6, 2008	South African Nationals	Johannesburg, South Africa
Y	50 m Freestyle	20.30 s [8]	August 8, 2009	South African Championships	Pietermaritzburg, South Africa
	100 m Individual Medley[9]	52.51 s	January 18, 2005	World Cup series	Stockholm, Sweden

References and notes

See also

• Commonwealth Games records in swimming

External links

• Roland Schoeman's website
• Snaparazzi Gallery

Records
Preceded by Thomas Rupprath	Men's 100 metre Individual Medley World Record Holder (Short Course) 18 January 2005 – 22 January 2005	Succeeded by Ryk Neethling
Preceded by Ian Crocker	Men's 50 metre Butterfly World Record Holder (Long Course) 24 July 2005 – 5 April 2009	Succeeded by Rafael Muñoz
Preceded by Frédérick Bousquet	Men's 50 metre Freestyle World Record Holder (Short Course) 12 August 2006 – 18 November 2007	Succeeded by Stefan Nystrand
Preceded by Duje Draganja	Men's 50 metre Freestyle World Record Holder (Short Course) 7 September 2008 – 11 December 2008	Succeeded by Amaury Leveaux
Preceded by Amaury Leveaux	Men's 50 metres Freestyle World Record Holder (Short Course) 8 August 2009 –	Succeeded by Incumbent
Preceded by Ian Crocker	Men's 100 metre Freestyle World Record Holder (Short Course) 22 January 2005 – 17 December 2007	Succeeded by Stefan Nystrand
Awards
Preceded by Not available	World African Swimmer of the Year 2004 – 2007	Succeeded by Ous Mellouli