South Africa at the 2004 Summer Olympics
IOC code	RSA
NOC	South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee
Website	www.sascoc.co.za
inAthens
Competitors	106 in 19 sports
Flag bearer	Mbulaeni Mulaudzi[1]
Medals Ranked 43rd	Gold 1 Silver 3 Bronze 2 Total 6
Summer Olympics appearances (overview)
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South Africa competed at the2004 Summer Olympics inAthens,Greece, from 13 to 29 August 2004. This was the nation's sixteenth overall and fourth consecutive appearance at the Summer Olympics in the post-apartheid era. TheSouth African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) sent a total of 106 athletes to the Games, 66 men and 40 women, to compete in 19 sports.Field hockey was the only team-based sport in which South Africa had its representation at these Games. There was only a single competitor in archery, canoeing, diving, artistic and rhythmic gymnastics, judo, sailing, shooting, taekwondo, and wrestling.

The South African team featured four Olympic medalists from Sydney: breaststroke swimmerTerence Parkin, high jumperHestrie Cloete, discus throwerFrantz Kruger, and hurdlerLlewellyn Herbert. Several athletes made their third consecutive Olympic appearance, including freestyleRyk Neethling and middle distance runnerHezekiél Sepeng, who previously won the silver in Atlanta for the men's 800 metres. Sepeng's fellow runner and teammateMbulaeni Mulaudzi, a top medal contender on the same event, later became the nation's flag bearer in the opening ceremony.^[1]

South Africa left Athens with a remarkable tally of six Olympic medals, one gold, three silver, and two bronze, being considered its most successful Olympics since the1996 Summer Olympics inAtlanta. The highlight of the South African team at these Games came with a surprising triumph in men's swimming, whenRoland Mark Schoeman,Ryk Neethling,Lyndon Ferns, andDarian Townsend held a major upset on the Aussies, Americans, and the Dutch for a new world record and a prestigious gold medal in the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay.^[2][3] Furthermore, Schoeman completed a full set of medals to become the most decorated South African athlete at these Games, adding his silver in the men's 100 m freestyle and bronze in the men's 50 m freestyle.^[4] Cloete managed to repeat her silver from Sydney in the women's high jump, whileDonovan Cech andRamon di Clemente claimed a bronze for the first time in men's rowing.^[5][6]

Field hockey playersCraig andNatalie Fulton became the first married couple to represent South Africa at the same Olympic Games.^[7][8]

Medal	Name	Sport	Event	Date
Gold	Lyndon Ferns Ryk Neethling Roland Mark Schoeman Darian Townsend	Swimming	Men's 4 × 100 m freestyle relay	August 15
Silver	Roland Mark Schoeman	Swimming	Men's 100 m freestyle	August 18
Silver	Mbulaeni Mulaudzi	Athletics	Men's 800 m	August 28
Silver	Hestrie Cloete	Athletics	Women's high jump	August 28
Bronze	Roland Mark Schoeman	Swimming	Men's 50 m freestyle	August 20
Bronze	Donovan Cech Ramon di Clemente	Rowing	Men's pair	August 21

One South African archer qualified for the women's individual archery through the African Championships.

Athlete	Event	Ranking round		Round of 64	Round of 32	Round of 16	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Final /BM
		Score	Seed	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Rank
Kirstin Jean Lewis	Women's individual	606	52	Banerjee (IND) W 141–131	Sharma (IND) W 157–153	He Y (CHN) L 142–156	Did not advance

South African athletes have so far achieved qualifying standards in the following athletics events (up to a maximum of 3 athletes in each event at the 'A' Standard, and 1 at the 'B' Standard).^[9][10]

Men

Track & road events

Athlete	Event	Heat		Quarterfinal		Semifinal		Final
		Result	Rank	Result	Rank	Result	Rank	Result	Rank
Shaun Bownes	110 m hurdles	13.68	6q	13.62	6	Did not advance
Ockert Cilliers	400 m hurdles	49.12	3Q	—N/a		49.01	6	Did not advance
Johan Cronje	1500 m	3:40.99	8q	—N/a		3:44.41	11	Did not advance
Llewellyn Herbert	400 m hurdles	48.70	4Q	—N/a		48.57	5	Did not advance
Leigh Julius	200 m	20.80	6	Did not advance
Marcus La Grange	400 m	45.95	3	—N/a		Did not advance
Alwyn Myburgh	400 m hurdles	48.44	2Q	—N/a		48.21	3q	49.07	7
Mbulaeni Mulaudzi	800 m	1:45.72	1Q	—N/a		1:46.09	2Q	1:44.61
Hendrick Ramaala	Marathon	—N/a						DNF
Ruben Ramolefi	3000 m steeplechase	8:46.17	13	—N/a				Did not advance
Hezekiél Sepeng	800 m	1:46.82	2Q	—N/a		1:44.75	4q	1:45.53	6
Ian Syster	Marathon	—N/a						DNF
Gert Thys		—N/a						2:16:08	16
Ockert Cilliers Marcus La Grange Arnaud Malherbe Hendrick Mokganyetsi	4 × 400 m relay	DNF		—N/a				Did not advance

Field events

Women

Track & road events

Field events

Athlete	Event	Qualification		Final
		Distance	Position	Distance	Position
Hestrie Cloete	High jump	1.95	=1Q	2.02
Elizna Naude	Discus throw	58.74	20	Did not advance
Sunette Viljoen	Javelin throw	54.45	35	Did not advance

Combined events –Heptathlon

Athlete	Event	Round of 32	Round of 16	Quarterfinal	Semifinal	Final /BM
		Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Rank
Chris Dednam	Men's singles	Ponsana (THA) L 1–15, 10–15	Did not advance
Stewart Carson Dorian James	Men's doubles	Bach / Han (USA) L 4–15, 1–15	Did not advance
Michelle Edwards	Women's singles	Popat (IND) L 6–11, 3–11	Did not advance
Chantal Botts Michelle Edwards	Women's doubles	Grether / Schenk (GER) L 0–15, 0–15	Did not advance
Chris Dednam Antoinette Uys	Mixed doubles	Cheng W-H / Tsai C-H (TPE) L 3–15, 9–15	Did not advance

South Africa sent three boxers to Athens.

Athlete	Event	Round of 32	Round of 16	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Final
		Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Rank
Lodumo Galada	Featherweight	Imranov (AZE) LRSC	Did not advance
Bongani Mahlangu	Welterweight	Huseynov (AZE) L 14–22	Did not advance
Khotso Motau	Middleweight	Mashkin (UKR) L 22–25	Did not advance

Qualification Legend:Q = Qualify to final;q = Qualify to semifinal

South African divers qualified for two individual spots at the 2004 Olympic Games.

Women

Women

Athlete	Event	Round of 64	Round of 32	Round of 16	Quarterfinal	Semifinal	Final /BM
		Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Rank
Rachel Barlow	Individual épée	Kavelaars (CAN) L 8–14	Did not advance
Natalia Tychler		Espinosa (COL) L 8–15	Did not advance
Kelly-Anne Wilson		Harada (JPN) L 6–15	Did not advance
Rachel Barlow Natalia Tychler Kelly-Anne Wilson	Team épée	—N/a		Greece L 15–34	Did not advance			9

Roster

The following is the South African roster in the men's field hockey tournament of the 2004 Summer Olympics.^[11]

Head coach:Paul Revington

Group play

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Netherlands	5	5	0	0	16	9	+7	15	Semi-finals
2	Australia	5	3	1	1	14	10	+4	10
3	New Zealand	5	3	0	2	13	11	+2	9	5–8th place semi-finals
4	India	5	1	1	3	11	13	−2	4
5	South Africa	5	1	0	4	9	15	−6	3	9–12th place semi-finals
6	Argentina	5	0	2	3	8	13	−5	2

15 August 2004 10:30 Argentina  1 – 2  South Africa Almada 10' Report Nicol 38', 41' Umpires: Xavier Adell (ESP) David Gentles (AUS)

17 August 2004 18:00 South Africa  2 – 4  India Nicol 7' Fulton 12' Report D. Pillay 27' B. Singh 41' D. Tirkey 69' G. A. Singh 70' Umpires: Ray O'Connor (IRL) David Leiper (GBR)

19 August 2004 08:30 Netherlands  3 – 2  South Africa Derikx 29' De Nooijer 49' Klaver 69' Report Evans 17' Symons 23' Umpires: Jason McCracken (NZL) Han Jin-Soo (KOR)

21 August 2004 18:00 South Africa  2 – 3  Australia Nicol 4' Smith 29' Report Brooks 17' Eglington 19' Brennan 47' Umpires: Henrik Ehlers (DEN) Satinder Kumar (IND)

23 August 2004 08:30 New Zealand  4 – 1  South Africa Kosoof 15' Shaw 38', 46' Burrows 70' Report Smith 28' Umpires: Christian Blasch (GER) Sumesh Putra (CAN)

Classification match (9th–12th place)

25 August 2004 08:30 South Africa  5 – 1  Egypt Nicol 2', 54', 67' Fulton 7' Smith 50' Report Ahmed 17' Umpires: Pedro Teixeira (POR) Satinder Kumar (IND)

9th place final

27 August 2004 11:30 South Africa  1 – 1 (a.e.t.)  Great Britain Nicol 45' Report Fordham 43' Penalties Symons Clark Nicol Denne Fulton 3 – 4 Hawes Moodie Stott Garrard Hall Umpires: David Gentles (AUS) Amarjit Singh (MAS)

Roster

The following is the South African roster in the women's field hockey tournament of the 2004 Summer Olympics.^[12]

Head coach:Ros Howell

Group play

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Netherlands	4	4	0	0	14	5	+9	12	Semi-finals
2	Germany	4	2	0	2	6	10	−4	6
3	South Korea	4	1	1	2	9	8	+1	4
4	Australia	4	1	1	2	6	5	+1	4
5	South Africa	4	1	0	3	5	12	−7	3

14 August 2004 08:30 Netherlands  6 – 2  South Africa Donners 6', 19', 37' Boomgaardt 15' Moreira de Melo 23' Scheepstra 25' Report Wilson 7', 53' Umpires: Lyn Farrell (NZL) Gina Spitaleri (ITA)

16 August 2004 10:30 South Africa  0 – 3  Australia Report Towers 28' Faulkner 34' Gallagher 59' Umpires: Sarah Garnett (NZL) Ute Conen (GER)

18 August 2004 18:00 South Africa  0 – 3  South Korea Report Ko Kwang-Min 17' Lee Seon-Ok 35' Kim Yun-Mi 46' Umpires: Jean Duncan (GBR) Renee Cohen (NED)

20 August 2004 18:00 Germany  0 – 3  South Africa Report Wehmeyer 4' Coetzee 45' Wilson 56' Umpires: Lyn Farrell (NZL) Sarah Garnett (NZL)

9th place final

27 August 2004 09:00 Spain  3 – 4 (a.e.t.)  South Africa Ybarra 23' Feito 49' Termens 60' Report Coetzee 29' Pholo 33' Wilson 47', 73' Umpires: Lyn Farrell (NZL) Minka Woolley (AUS)

Women

South Africa has qualified a single judoka.

Athlete	Event	Round of 32	Round of 16	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Repechage 1	Repechage 2	Repechage 3	Final /BM
		Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Rank
Henriette Moller	Women's −63 kg	Bye	Hong O-S (PRK) L 0000–1000	Did not advance

South African rowers qualified the following boats:

Men

Athlete	Event	Heats		Repechage		Semifinals		Final
		Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank
Donovan Cech Ramon di Clemente	Pair	6:57.06	1SA/B	Bye		6:28.48	3FA	6:33.40

Qualification Legend:FA=Final A (medal);FB=Final B (non-medal);FC=Final C (non-medal);FD=Final D (non-medal);FE=Final E (non-medal);FF=Final F (non-medal);SA/B=Semifinals A/B;SC/D=Semifinals C/D;SE/F=Semifinals E/F;R=Repechage

South African sailors have qualified one boat for each of the following events.

Open

M = Medal race;OCS =On course side of the starting line;DSQ = Disqualified;DNF = Did not finish;DNS= Did not start;RDG = Redress given

Men

South African swimmers earned qualifying standards in the following events (up to a maximum of 2 swimmers in each event at the A-standard time, and 1 at the B-standard time):

Men

Athlete	Event	Heat		Semifinal		Final
		Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank
Eugene Botes	100 m butterfly	54.15	30	Did not advance
Lyndon Ferns	50 m freestyle	22.53	16Q	22.46	14	Did not advance
Ryk Neethling	100 m freestyle	48.85	=2Q	49.18	7Q	48.63	4
Terence Parkin	100 m breaststroke	1:03.05	24	Did not advance
	200 m breaststroke	2:14.12	12Q	2:13.58	12	Did not advance
Roland Mark Schoeman	50 m freestyle	22.41	=8Q	21.99	1Q	22.02
	100 m freestyle	49.68	13Q	48.39	1Q	48.23
Darian Townsend	200 m individual medley	2:07.04	37	Did not advance
Gerhard Zandberg	100 m backstroke	55.62	12Q	55.76	13	Did not advance
Lyndon Ferns Ryk Neethling Roland Mark Schoeman Darian Townsend	4 × 100 m freestyle relay	3:13.84	1Q	—N/a		3:13.17WR
Eugene Botes Terence Parkin Karl Otto Thaning Gerhard Zandberg	4 × 100 m medley relay	3:43.94	13	—N/a		Did not advance

Athlete	Event	Round of 16	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Repechage 1	Repechage 2	Final /BM
		Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Rank
Duncan Mahlangu	Men's −68 kg	Sagastume (GUA) L 7–11	Did not advance

Two South African triathletes qualified for the following events.

Athlete	Event	Preliminary round	Standing	Round of 16	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Final
		Opposition Score		Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Rank
Colin Pocock Gershon Rorich	Men's	Pool F  Beligratis –Michalopoulos (GRE) W 2 – 1 (21–16, 24–26, 15–10)  Baracetti –Conde (ARG) L 0 – 2 (13–21, 15–21)  Brenha –Maia (POR) W 2 – 0 (22–20, 22–20)	2Q	Prosser – Williams (AUS) L 0 – 2 (14–21, 10–21)	Did not advance
Leigh Ann Naidoo Julia Willand	Women's	Pool B  Bede –Behar (BRA) L 0 – 2 (7–21, 10–21)  Fernández –Larrea (CUB) L 0 – 2 (19–21, 16–21)  Gattelli –Perrotta (ITA) L 0 – 2 (18–21, 14–21)	4	Did not advance

Men's freestyle

Athlete	Event	Elimination Pool			Quarterfinal	Semifinal	Final /BM
		Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Rank	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Rank
Shaun Williams	−55 kg	Velikov (BUL) L 1–4SP	Li Zy (CHN) L 1–3PP	3	Did not advance			17

• South Africa at the 2004 Summer Paralympics

• Official Report of the XXVIII OlympiadArchived 11 June 2008 at theWayback Machine
• South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC)Archived 12 December 2008 at theWayback Machine

• Nations at the 2004 Summer Olympics
• South Africa at the Summer Olympics by year
• 2004 in South African sport

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