SCHOEMAN Riaan < Back  
Sport Swimming
CGA South Africa   
Gender Men
Born 18 Sep 1989 in Vereeniging, SAF
Height1.76 m
Weight 72 kg
Human Interest
Further Personal Information
Residence Durban, RSA
Sport Specific Information
Club / Team Kwa-Zulu Natal Aquatics: South Africa
General Interest
Hobbies Going to the movies, music, reading, triathlon, cycling, spending time with his family. (summergames.lenovo.com, 26 Jul 2010)
Memorable sporting achievement "The meet in Osaka in 2007 is one of my proudest achievements. I went in to the meet with no expectations and I shocked myself and my family when I won the gold and broke the record. Another great achievement was being part of the South African Olympic team in Beijing and placing 12th in the 400 Individual Medley."
( thesouthafrican.com, 20 Apr 2012)
Famous relatives He has a younger brother Henri who is a triathlete and he represents South Africa at international level.
(thesouthafrican.com, 20 Apr 2012)
Awards and honours Named as the KwaZulu-Natal province's Top Male Swimmer at the 2007 South Africa National Championships. (riaanschoeman.com, 04 Jan 2008)
Sport Specific Information
Name of coach Alistair Hatfield
Training Regime "My days are definitely quite full. I swim at 5:30am and then head off to class at 9am, have a lunch break and then depending on the schedule I either go back to class at 12pm or just relax until 3pm and then head off to the pool again."
When and where did you begin this sport? He began swimming at the age of 10 in Durban.
International Debut
Year 2006
Competing for South Africa
Location Germany
Sport Specific Information
Coach from which country? South Africa
General Interest
Other information BROTHERS
His brother Henri is also an athlete and, when time permits, they train together and encourage each other. "It is really great having an athlete younger brother, he is really moving up the ranks in the triathlon scene. We swim together and I often do my land training with him. We feed off of each other's energy and that allows us to push each other to become better athletes. When I'm not in such an intense training phase he often asks me to lead him out in the swim leg of the triathlon, which is really enjoyable." (thesouthafrican.com, 20 Apr 2012;roadtolondon2012.co.za, 03 Feb 2012)

THE MIDMAR MILE
The Midmar Mile was first held in 1973 and is the world's largest open water swim event. "I won it in 2009 and came third in 2010. Since I started swimming the Midmar I've always finished in the top 15. It fits well into my program because right now I am doing quite a bit of distance and clocking about 14-15km a day and I'll start to taper off closer to [2012 Olympic] trials."
(thesouthafrican.com, 20 Apr 2012;roadtolondon2012.co.za, 03 Feb 2012)
Further Personal Information
Higher education Psychology