# Roland Schoeman

Roland Mark Schoeman OIS (born 4 July 1980) is a South African American swimmer who attended the University of Arizona, was a world record holder in multiple events, and was a member of the South African swimming team at the 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games. He won a gold medal representing South Africa in the 4x100 freestyle relay at the 2004 Athens Olympics and between 2000-2014 won numerous medals including seven golds in freestyle, and butterfly events at the World Championships, Pan American, and Commonwealth games. Following his swimming career in May 2022, he officially became a citizen of the United States.

## Early life and overview

Born in Pretoria on July 4, 1980, Schoeman first took an interest in the sport when he was 13, and began to compete three years later. He said he began swimming only to impress a girl he met. He attended Pretoria's Willow Ridge High School, where he trained under coach Gavin Ross. In 1998, shortly before beginning college at the University of Arizona, he finished sixth in the 50 and 100 meter freestyles at the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lampur. In his career he would attain a gold, silver and bronze medal at the 2004 Olympic Games; three gold, a silver and a bronze medal in the World Championships, as well as four gold, three silvers and three bronzes at the Commonwealth Games. He 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.

### University of Arizona

Schoeman attended the University of Arizona on a swimming scholarship between 1998-2002, where he was coached by ASCAA Hall of Fame Coach Frank Busch and Assistant Coach Rick DeMont. Coach DeMont also served as a primary coach for Schoeman's South African Team at the 2004 Athens and 2008 Beijing Olympics. As a collegiate swimmer at the University of Arizona, DeMont had held world records in both the 400-meter and 1500-meter freestyle, and excelled at middle and long distance freestyle events, making him a skilled mentor for advancing Schoeman's freestyle technique.
In 2000, at the NCAA Men's Swimming and Diving Championships in Minnesota, while swimming as a Sophomore, Schoeman tied the short course world record in the 50-meter freestyle with a time of 21.31. While at Arizona in 2002, he again won the NCAA Championship in the 50-meter freestyle, in addition to capturing several runner-up finishes and multiple All-American honors. Roland would later became the first person ever to record a time of less than 21 seconds in the 50 meter freestyle.

## 2000-2012 Olympics

Schoeman competed for South Africa in the 2000 Sydney Olympics in the 50-meter freestyle placing eleventh and the 100 meter freestyle event placing fifteenth, as well as the 4x100 meter freestyle relay where his team placed eleventh.

### Three 2004 Olympic medals

Schoeman won three medals at the 2004 Olympics, making him the first South African to win three medals in one Olympics. He won a gold medal in the 4 × 100 m freestyle. He captured the silver medal in the 100 m freestyle event recording a time of 48.23. Schoeman and South African teammate Neethling led in the first half of the 100 meter event, but Pieter Van Den Hoogenband of the Netherlands had a strong finish to defend his title and take the gold medal. Schoeman won a bronze in the 50 m freestyle with a time of 22.02 in a typically close finish. Though leading in the early portion of the 50-meter event, Schoeman faded to third place, finishing only .08 seconds behind the unexpected second place silver medalist, Duje Draganja of Croatia.
In his most memorable event at the 2004 games, Schoeman helped South Africa upset the Netherlands and the dominant United States in the 4x100 meter freestyle relay, an historic upset. The 2004 4x100 meter Olympic gold medal South African relay team consisted of Schoeman, Lyndon Ferns, Darian Townsend, and Ryk Neethling. As one of the events faster swimmers, Schoeman's opening leg in the 4x100 freestyle relay opened up a lead that remained throughout the race defeating the second place Netherlands teams by a second and defeating the United States team which took the bronze. Ryk Neethling swam the fastest time of the South African 4x100 relay team in the final heat and insured the South African win, despite a close finish.
At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Schoeman participated in the 50-meter freestyle and the 4x100 meter freestyle relay finishing seventh in both events.
At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Schoeman, aged 32, advanced to the finals in the men's 50 m freestyle though he finished sixth, clocking a 21.80 in the finals to finish 0.46 seconds behind the gold medal winner, Florent Manaudou.
In 2016, Schoeman missed qualifying for a fifth Olympics.

### 2006 Commonwealth games

Three of the Men's 4x100 metre Freestyle team at the 2004 Olympics were in the team that broke the record and won gold at the 2006 Commonwealth Games. He also claimed golds at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in the 100m freestyle and 100m butterfly.

### Records

Schoeman was the former individual world record holder in the Long Course Meters 50 butterfly, Short Course Meters 50 freestyle, Short Course Meters 100 freestyle, and Short Course Meters 100 individual medley. On 6 September 2008, Schoeman set a new short course meters (25 m pool) world record of 20.64 for a 50-meter swim at South African Nationals. He lost his world record in late 2008 but regained it in August 2009. At the South Africa Short Course Championships, Schoeman recorded a time of 20.30 seconds for the 50-meter event, which was broken in 2014 by Florent Manaudou. Overall, Schoeman has broken three long course world records with two individual, and one relay, and six individual short course world records.

### 2001, 2005, 2007 World Aquatic Championships

Schoeman won a bronze in the 50 meter freestyle at the 2001 World Aquatics Championships.
At the 2005 FINA World Aquatics Championships in Montreal, Quebec, 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.
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.
In December 2005, he turned down a 40 Million Rand (US$5.9 million) contract to swim for Qatar. He turned down the offer due to his own national pride and because he felt the sound of the South African national anthem and the experience of sharing pride in his victories with other citizens of South Africans is what made winning gold special.
After his elite swimming career ended, he competed in the 1 Mile Flowers Sea Swim at the Cayman Islands in June 2018, finishing with a time of 24:05.
As of 2023, he was part of the Enhanced Games athletes advisory commission. The Enhanced Games are a multi-sport event, that have a more relaxed policy toward drug testing. They were founded by Australian businessman Aron D'Souza, and planning for their first event in 2025.
| Event | Time | Record | Date | Location |
| Long course ||||
| 50m Freestyle | 21.67 | SA Record Holder | 16 Aug 2008 | Beijing, China |
| 50m Freestyle | 21.67 = | SA Record Holder | 2 Aug 2013 | Barcelona, Spain |
| 100m Freestyle | 48.17 | Former SA Record Holder | 15 Aug 2004 | Athens, Greece |
| 50m Butterfly | 22.90 | Former WR Holder | 26 Jul 2009 | Rome, Italy |
| 4 × 100 m Freestyle | 3:11.93 | Former WR Holder | 26 Jul 2009 | Rome, Italy |
| Short course ||||
| 50m Freestyle | 20.30 | Former 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 |

## Honors

Schoeman, who is asthmatic, was voted the African Swimmer of the Year by Swimming World in 2004, 2005 and 2006; and the South African Swimmer of the Year in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006. He was elected South African Sports Star of the Year in 2004.
In 2007, he received the South African Presidential Award Order of Ikhamanga in Silver, awarded for excellent achievements in the field of swimming.
In 2004 he was inducted into the University of Pretoria Sport Hall of fame.
In 2007 he was inducted into the University of Arizona Sports Hall of Fame.
In August, 2024, he was inducted into the South Africa Sports Hall of Fame, along with the three other swimmers who won the gold medal in the 4x100 meter freestyle relay at the 2004 Athens Olympics.