End of the road for Ryk?
Standing alongside the fastest pool in Olympic history on Tuesday night Ryk Neethling faced the very real possibility that he may have swum in his last Olympic race.
He also found it did not sit well with him. An old dog he may well be in swimming terms, but Neethling feels he has it in him to learn a few new tricks.
The 30-year old finished last in his 100m freestyle heat and failed to qualify for this Wednesday's morning's semifinals.
Lyndon Ferns, his Awesome Foursome colleague, qualified ninth fastest. Neethling was gutted, dirty at a time of 49.28 seconds in a heat won by the world record holder Eamon Sullivan, yet still, as ever, as honest as the day is long about his performance.
"You work for two years for that and to produce that is pretty disappointing. I know I did everything in my power to get there," said Neethling.
"There's nothing I could have done more, or better, or focused more or anything. That's all I had today, and that's the way it goes.
"For the last year, my form hasn't been where I want it to be. I tried everything to be at my best. I moved away from home to focus more. It seems like the harder you try, the slower you go. I had three or four years were I was doing everything I wanted to do and I was on top, but sometimes it's not there, as much as you try."
Another of the contingent of SA swimmers who headed to the University of Arizona, Neethling went to America on a quasi-permanent basis in 1996 after having made his Olympic debut as a 1 500m swimmer in Atlanta.
He finished fifth in the 1500m in Sydney, and immediately proclaimed it would be his last long-distance race.
He returned reborn as a sprinter and in 2004 anchored the 4x100m freestyle relay team to victory in a display that rocked the sport and had the Rainbow Nation rocking. He does not want to leave the Olympics this way.
"I think I have another Olympics in me, if I want to; if I enjoy it. We'll see how things go. It would be disappointing to finish like that."
Is this the end of the anchor of the Awesome Foursome? Perhaps, but if that is to be, then Swimming South Africa would be foolish to throw away the wealth of experience and willingness to teach Neethling has to offer.
Jean Basson, who finished fourth in the 200m freestyle final in which Michael Phelps won his third gold and broke his third world record, credited Neethling, Roland Schoeman, Ferns and Darian Townsend with helping him get his head around competing in his first international competition.
On Tuesday night Basson, Townsend, Jan Venter and Sebastian Rosseauc qualified for the 4x200m freestyle relay final scheduled to be held this on Wednesday morning.
William Diering and Neil Versfeld finished third and fourth in their 200m breaststroke heats yesterday, while Katheryn Meaklim was first in her 200m butterfly heat. All will take part in semifinals on Wednesday.