Roland Mark Schoeman

Roland Schoeman

Personal information
Full name	Roland Mark Schoeman
Nationality	South Africa
Born	3 July 1980 (1980-07-03) Pretoria, South Africa
Sport
Sport	Swimming
Stroke(s)	freestyle, butterfly, breaststroke
Club	Northern Tigers Swimming
College team	Arizona Wildcats (USA)
Medal record Men’s swimming Competitor for South Africa Olympic Games Gold 2004 Athens 4×100 m freestyle Silver 2004 Athens 100 m freestyle Bronze 2004 Athens 50 m freestyle World Championships Gold 2005 Montreal 50 m freestyle Gold 2005 Montreal 50 m butterfly Gold 2007 Melbourne 50 m butterfly Silver 2005 Montreal 100 m freestyle Bronze 2001 Fukuoka 50 m freestyle Commonwealth Games Gold 2006 Melbourne 50 m freestyle Gold 2006 Melbourne 50 m butterfly Gold 2006 Melbourne 4 × 100 m freestyle relay Gold 2002 Manchester 50 m freestyle Silver 2002 Manchester 50 m butterfly Silver 2002 Manchester 4 × 100 m freestyle relay Silver 2010 Delhi 50 m freestyle Bronze 2006 Melbourne 100 m freestyle Bronze 2010 Delhi 4×100 m freestyle Bronze 2010 Delhi 50 m butterfly Pan Pacific Championships Silver 2006 Victoria 50 m freestyle Bronze 2006 Victoria 100 m freestyle Bronze 2010 Irvine 50 m butterfly Bronze 2010 Irvine 4×100 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. 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 × 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 FINA World Aquatics 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. 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 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. On 6 September 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 meter freestyle short course (25 m pool).

Career Best Times

Schoeman has broken 3 Long Course world records (2 individual, 1 relay) and 6 short course world records (all individual).

Event	Time	Record	Date	Location
Long Course
50m Freestyle	21.67	SA Record Holder	16 Aug 2008	Beijing, China
100m Freestyle	48.17	Former SA Record Holder	15 Aug 2004	Athens, Greece
200m Freestyle	1:52.07		5 Aug 2005	Irvine, USA
50m Butterfly	22.90	Former WR Holder	26 Jul 2009	Rome, Italy
4×100m Freestyle	3:11.93	Former WR Holder	26 Jul 2009	Rome, Italy
Short Course
50m Freestyle	20.30	WR Holder	8 August 2009	Pietermaritzburg, South Africa
100m Freestyle	46.25	Former WR Holder	22 January 2005	Berlin, Germany
50m Butterfly	21.87		14 Nov 2009	Berlin, Germany
100m IM	52.20	Former WR Holder	13 Aug 2006	Hamburg, Germany

Accolades

In 2004 he was inducted into the University of Pretoria Sport Hall of fame.

See also

• Commonwealth Games records in swimming

External links

• Roland Schoeman's website
• Snaparazzi Gallery

Records
Preceded by Mark Foster	Men's 50 metre Freestyle World Record Holder (Short Course) 23 March 2000 – 23 March 2000 shared with Mark Foster	Succeeded by Anthony Ervin
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 Amaury Leveaux
Preceded by Ian Crocker	Men's 100 metre Freestyle World Record Holder (Short Course) 22 January 2005 – 17 December 2007	Succeeded by Stefan Nystrand
Preceded by Amaury Leveaux	Men's 50 metre Freestyle World Record Holder (Short Course) 8 August 2009 –	Succeeded by incumbent
Awards
Preceded by Not available	World African Swimmer of the Year 2004 – 2007	Succeeded by Ous Mellouli