London - SA swimmer Suzaan van Biljon faded in the second half of the race to finish seventh in the women's 200m breaststroke final at the Olympic Games on Thursday night.
Van Biljon went out hard and led the race after the first length, but she fell back in the last 100m, clocking two minutes, 23.72 seconds (2:23.72).
American Rebecca Soni broke the world record, setting a time of 2:19.59 to secure the gold medal.
Van Biljon had broken Penny Heyns's 13-year-old South African record in Wednesday's semi-final, touching the wall in 2:23.21.
Olympic women's swimming 200m breaststroke podium on Thursday:Gold: Rebecca Soni (USA)
Silver: Satomi Suzuki (JPN)
Bronze: Yuliyia Efimova (RUS)
SAPA
