SA fifth in 4x100m freestyle

London - The South African men's 4x100m freestyle relay team ended fifth in the Olympic final on Sunday night, finishing ahead of Germany, Italy and Belgium.

France grabbed gold in 3:09:93, ahead of the United States (3:10:38) and Russia in third (3:11:41).

The men's quartet, consisting of Roland Schoeman, Darian Townsend, Gideon Louw and Graeme Moore, set a time of 3:13:45 - slightly slower than the time they set in the heats.

The South Africans qualified seventh fastest in the heats earlier on Sunday, with a time of 3:13:38.

Both Townsend and Schoeman were in the SA team that won gold in the same event at the 2004 Athens Olympics when they edged out the Netherlands and the US.