Roland Mark Schoeman

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 . 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...
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