A History Of South Africa’s Medal Winners – Swimming

Below is a detailed dive into the Mzansi swimmers who have won medals at the Summer Olympics. We look at their times, records, and who they were competing against.

Atlanta 1996

Penny Heyns won South Africa’s first medal in the pool, winning Gold in the Women’s 100-meters Breaststroke. Her time of 1:07.73 was a World Record swim as she finished ahead of Amanda Beard (USA) and Samantha Riley of Australia.

Heyns then added the Women’s 200-meters Breaststroke to her achievements by taking the Gold medal. Her time of 2:25.41 was an Olympic Record on the day. She once again beat American, Amanda Beard and Australia’s Rebecca Brown.

Athens 2004

After an eight-year weight, South Africa won the Gold Medal in the Men’s 4×100 meters Freestyle Relay. The four swimmers were Roland Schoeman, Lyndon Ferns, Darian Townsend, and Ryk Neethling and their time of 3:13.17 was a World Record on the day.

They famously finished ahead of a USA quarter featuring Michael Phelps whilst Australia took the Bronze Medal.

Roland Schoeman won the Silver Medal in the Men’s 100-meter Freestyle, and he was not done as he took a Bronze Medal in the Men’s 50-meters Freestyle with a time of 21.94.

He was once again joined on the podium by an American, Gary Hall Jr. (Gold), and an Australian Ian Thorpe (Bronze).

London 2012

After another eight-year wait, the swimming medals resumed through Cameron van der Burgh. He took Gold in the Men’s 100-meters Breaststroke with a World Record time of 58:46, finishing ahead of Christian Sprenger (Australia) and Brendan Hansen (USA).

Perhaps the most famous ever win came from Chad le Clos, hailed by his father on television as a “beautiful boy” after the event. In the Men’s 200 -meters Butterfly, he hit a new African Record with a time of 1:52.96. His famous fingertip stretch saw him edge out two-time defending Olympic champion and world record holder, Michael Phelps, by 0.05 seconds.

Le Clos added the Silver Medal in the Men’s 100-meters Butterfly with another African Record but this time he finished behind Michael Phelps (USA) by 0.23 seconds.

Rio de Janeiro 2016

Chad le Clos won another silver medal in Brazil four years later, this time in the Men’s 200-meters Freestyle. He finished behind Sun Yang of China with a time of 1:45.20.

In the Men’s 100-meters Butterfly, he earned another Silver Medal, amazingly tying with Michael Phelps and Laszlo Cseh with a time of 51:14 as they all finished behind Singapore’s Joseph Schooling.

Tokyo 2020 (held in 2021 due to COVID-19)

South Africa’s female swimmer Tatjana Schoenmaker took home two medals. The Silver Medal in the Women’s 100-meters Breaststroke saw her finish behind USA’s Lydia Jacoby despite Schoenmaker’s time of 1:05.22 being a new African Record.

She went one better in the Women’s 200-meters Breaststroke by taking the Gold Medal in a World Record time of 2:18.95! Schoenmaker finished ahead of two Americans Lilly King and Annie Lazor.