Van der Burgh claims gold in Delhi
Cameron van der Burgh took his first gold in a major 100m breaststroke long-course at the Commonwealth Games on Wednesday, confirming his arrival at the top of the swimming tree.
"It's just been such a great week. First I got to carry the South African flag in my first Comonwealth Games and now I've won this. It's a special moment," he said.
In a spectacular display to win, the 22-year-old kept two Australians at bay -- one of them the world 100m champion, the other the world 100m record holder.
Van der Burgh himself holds three world records -- two short-course and one long-course, but all in the 50m.
"I am the world 50m champion, but the 100m is an Olympic event [the shorter one isn't] and I can only work towards my dream of Olympic gold in 2012," he said.
He led Wednesday's race from start to finish, hitting the wall in a Commonwealth record of 1min 00.10sec.
"The record is great to have, but it was about the gold. I knew I was in front and just kept going. Now I can go out and enjoy the 50m [on Thursday]."
On Thursday, Natalie du Toit should win gold in the S9 100m freestyle to maintain the country's record of gold in the pool on every day of competition.
There were two more medals in the pool on Wednesday.
Roland Schoeman fought until the last stroke to retain his Commonwealth Games 50m butterfly title, but fell short and came in third.
Just 0.12 seconds covered first to third as Jason Dunford produced Kenya's first-ever swimming gold in 23.35sec, followed by Australia's comeback kid Geoff Huegill (23.37sec) and the South African in 23.44sec.
The men's 4x200m freestyle team of Jean Basson, Darian Townsend, Chad le Clos and Jan Venter picked up a bronze medal.
Gideon Louw qualified third for the mens' 100m final to be swum on Thursday night. His 4x100m teammate from the relay squad which captured the bronze medal on Monday, Graeme Moore, also qualified for the final.
Schoeman earlier withdrew to conserve energy for the 50m butterfly and 50m freestyle.
In the first three days in the water, South Africa has collected three golds and a two bronzes, and there is every opportunity of adding to that tally on Thursday.
Results from Wednesday's swimming finals at the Commonwealth Games:-
Men's 200m backstroke
1. James Goddard (ENG) 1:55.58
2. Gareth Kean (NZL) 1:57.37
3. Ashley Delaney (AUS) 1:58.18
4. Chris Walker-Hebborn (ENG) 1:59.00
5. Charles Francis (CAN) 2:00.07
6. Marco Loughran (WAL) 2:00.11
7. Tobias Oriwol (AUS) 2:00.24
8. Ryan Bennett (ENG) 2:01.86
Women's 100m freestyle
1. Alicia Coutts (AUS) 54.09
2. Emily Seebohm (AUS) 54.30
3. Fran Halsall (ENG) 54.57
4. Hayley Palmer (NZL) 54.68
5. Amy Smith (ENG) 54.91
6. Victoria Poon (CAN) 55.04
7. Natasha Hind (NZL) 55.44
8. Emma Saunders (ENG) 56.17
Men's 50m freestyle S9
1. Matthew Cowdrey (AUS) 25.33
2. Simon Miller (ENG) 26.70
3. Prasanta Karmakar (IND) 27.48
4. Benjamin Austin (AUS) 27.53
5. Blake Cochrane (AUS) 27.68
6. Sean Fraser (SCO) 28.63
7. Laurence McGivern (NIR) 28.95
8. Sachin Verma (IND) 29.37
Women's 200m breaststroke
1. Leisel Jones (AUS) 2:25.38
2. Tessa Wallace (AUS) 2:25.60
3. Sarah Katsoulis (AUS) 2:25.92
4. Martha McCabe (CAN) 2:26.46
5. Annamay Pierse (CAN) 2:27.21
6. Stacey Tadd (ENG) 2:28.48
7. Hannah Miley (SCO) 2:30.20
8. Kerry Buchan (SCO) 2:31.18
Men's 50m butterfly,br>
1. Jason Dunford (KEN) 23.35
2. Geoff Huegill (AUS) 23.37
3. Roland Schoeman (RSA) 23.44
4. Mitchell Patterson (AUS) 23.65
5. Ryan Pini (PNG) 23.88
6. Antony James (ENG) 24.29
7. Vikram Khade (IND) 24.61
8. Andrew Mayor (SCO) 24.63
Women's 100m backstroke
1. Emily Seebohm (AUS) 59.79
2. Gemma Spofforth (ENG) 1:00.02
3. Julia Wilkinson (CAN) 1:00.74
4. Sophie Edington (AUS) 1:00.81
= Belinda Hocking (AUS) 1:00.81
6. Georgia Davies (WAL) 1:01.05
7. Melissa Ingram (NZL) 1:01.14
8. Sinead Russell (CAN) 1:01.42
Men's 100m breaststroke
1. Cameron Van Der Burgh (RSA) 1:00.10
2. Christian Sprenger (AUS) 1:00.29
3. Brenton Rickard (AUS) 1:00.46
4. Michael Jamieson (SCO) 1:00.60
5. Scott Dickens (CAN) 1:00.98
6. Glenn Snyders (NZL) 1:01.39
7. Kris Gilchrist (SCO) 1:01.43
8. Daniel Sliwinski (ENG) 1:01.68
Women's 4x200m freestyle
1. Australia 7:53.71
2. New Zealand 7:57.46
3. England 7:58.61
4. Canada 7:58.92
5. Scotland 8:06.85
6. Wales 8:08.50
7. Northern Ireland 8:13.02
8. India 8:56.59
Men's 4x200m freestyle
1. Australia 7:10.29
2. Scotland 7:14.02
3. South Africa 7:14.18
4. Canada 7:14.63
5. England 7:16.57
6. Malaysia 7:43.53
7. India 7:46.18
8. Singapore DNS