Rio De Janeiro – Finishing third in the men's triathlon Henri Schoeman became South Africa’s first swim, bike, run event medallist in the event at the Olympic Games.
Schoeman went largely unnoticed in the buildup to the Games with compatriot Richard Murray's receiving most of the attention.
"I've just been come short of a podium every time and I'm just really glad that I've broken through and have my first international triathlon medal at the Olympics," Schoeman said.
"It's just unbelievable, there are no words, and I am trying let it still sink in."
The Durban-based triathlete crossed the line in third place with a time of 1:45:43 with Murray finishing just seven seconds behind him.
Great Britain’s Alistair Brownlee successfully defended his title with a time of 1:45:01 with his brother Jonathan upgrading his bronze from London 2012 to a silver with a time of 1:45:07.
Schoeman got out of the water in 15 the place just 10 seconds off the pace in the 1.5km swim, a 40km bike ride and a 10km run event.
On the bike leg he was among the 10-man breakaway tenaciously holding on to transition into the running leg among the leaders.
He transitioned into the running leg in sixth place after a cycle of 55.01 minutes.
Schoeman caught up with Vincent Luis of France 500 metres into the second lap while the Brownlee brothers opened a sizeable gap on the chasing pack.
The athletes seemed to labour through the course as the sun was baking down at the Copacabana beach.
“I’ve been working really hard on my run and I knew more or less what the guys could run on that breakaway, and I knew the heat and the bike ride would be a bit of a factor,” Schoeman said.
“I was saving my legs a lot and I knew towards the end there would be some casualties and I tried to keep my cool in the beginning and it paid off in the end.”
Meanwhile, Murray launched an incredible running leg erasing nearly a minute and a half a lead Schoeman had on him after the cycle leg.
Murray posted the fastest running leg with a time of 30:34 as he reeled in the rest of the field.
"I never knew Henri was that far in the front, I saw Vincent Luis drop off and I thought 'is Henri in third?' and I thought I can aye catch them with another kilometre or to to go," Murray said.
"I am very happy with my performance, my swim was worse than I thought it might be.
"But three months ago people were asking me am I even going to Rio so coming away with a fourth place, I am very stoked hey.”
He broke his collarbone in Australia in April before starting which posed a serious to his swimming - considered his Achilles heel of the three events - as he returned to the pool late during his recovery and rehabilitation.
The gritty triathlete had a undesirable swim getting out of the water almost a minute behind the lead group with a time of 18 minutes 20 seconds.
“Henri had a fever a couple of days ago and he was a little bit sick couple of days ago and he is walking away with a medal,” Murray said.
“I think it is the best two performances ever for triathlon in the Olympic Games, I was just with myself in 2012 and now we have two people and almost qualifying a third.
“Triathlon is definitely moving in the right direction, and they breed us South Africans hard, hey.” - Independent Media