Rio de Janeiro - Finishing third in the men’s triathlon, Henri Schoeman became South Africa’s first swim-bike-run event medallist at the Olympics on Thursday.
Schoeman went largely unnoticed in the build-up, compatriot Richard Murray receiving most of the attention.
“I’ve come short of a podium every time and I’m just really glad I’ve broken through and have my first international triathlon medal at the Olympics,” Schoeman beamed.
“It’s just unbelievable, there are no words, and I am trying to let it still sink in.”
The Durban-based triathlete crossed the line in third place in one hour, 45 minutes and 43 seconds, with Murray finishing just seven seconds behind him.
Great Britain’s Alistair Brownlee successfully defended his title in 1:45:01 with his brother Jonathan upgrading his bronze from London 2012 in 1:45:07.
Schoeman got out of the water in 15th place just 10sec off the pace.
On the 40km bike leg he was among a 10-man breakaway tenaciously holding on to transition into the 10km running leg among the leaders. He transitioned into the final leg in sixth place after a cycle of 55min 01sec.
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 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, almost erasing the minute-and-a-half lead Schoeman had on him after the cycle leg.
Murray posted the fastest running leg of 30:34 as he reeled in the rest of the field.
“I never knew Henri was that far in front; I saw Vincent Luis drop off and I thought, is Henri in third?’ and I thought I can catch them with another kilometre or so to go,” Murray said.
“I am very happy with my performance, (but) 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 which posed a serious threat to his swimming, considered his weakest of the three events, as he returned to the pool late during his recovery and rehab.
The gritty triathlete had an undesirable swim, getting out of the water almost a minute behind the lead group with a time of 18:20.
“Henri had a fever a couple of days ago and he was a little bit sick a 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.”
The Star