MIAMI, Florida, April 2. LAST week Roland Schoeman, the 50-meter freestyle world champion, shook off a persistent illness to become the first South African to win three gold medals at a Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia.
Tonight, Schoeman, the defending world champion in two events has decided to forgo the opportunity to compete in the Short Course World Championships, which are to take place in Shanghai, China, April 5-9, according to his agent, David Arluck.
Schoeman said, "I still have not recovered from my recent illness and my doctors believe that additional traveling will set me back further. We can't afford any more setbacks because the countdown to Beijing has officially begun. I look forward to bringing more hardware back to South Africa in 2008."