Cameron van der Burgh clinches SA’s first Olympic medal

Van der Burgh, renowned for his speed, went out quickly but Peaty’s strength and power prevailed as he led at the turn and held on all the way until the finish.

Yang clocked the fastest time in the semis touching in at 1:44.63, while America’s Conor Dywer won the second semi in 1:45.55, with Le Clos who went out very fast finishing 5th to Yang and ranked 7th overall.

South Africa has won its first medal of the 2016 Rio Olympic Games as Cameron van der Burgh has taken silver in the 100 metres breastroke.

Peaty nailed his second world record in as many days‚ lowering it to 57.13.

Adding to the significance of Van der Burgh’s performance is that coming into the final‚ he had failed to break 59 seconds this year. “At least when I retire my tally will say Olympic gold‚ Olympic silver”.

“I knew tonight in the warmup that I wasn’t going to go 57 seconds so I had to try and the best I could”, Van der Burgh said.

While Van der Burgh and American Cody Miller were fighting it out for silver and bronze Peaty was chasing yet another world record.

For a brief moment Van der Burgh contemplated retiring from the sport after he had lost some passion for swimming. I am super proud to add a silver to the collection, to the gold, I can’t sound disappointed at all… “The Olympics is such a massive stage and I’m getting goosebumps just thinking about walking out there again and getting on the podium again”, the South African swimmer exclaimed. “It makes the whole four-year cycle worth it and all the sacrifices as well”.

Van der Burgh admitted he had felt pressure coming into the final.

“This is now something to build upon. I knew this arena would be absolutely ideal for me”, said the Briton.

“I am in good company, it is really hard to be so consistent over the years, and we can see a lot of previous Olympic champions struggling at this Games”, Van der Burgh said.