Now ex-Wildcats Neethling and Roland Schoeman and current Wildcat Lyndon Ferns have ratcheted up their popularity a notch.

During a six-week trip to South Africa to celebrate the country's gold-medal winning performance in the 400-meter freestyle relay, Neethling was able to meet with former South African president Nelson Mandela and golfer Ernie Els.

"That was an unbelievable experience," Neethling said of meeting with Mandela for about 30 minutes two weeks ago. "Meeting him - for every South African is unbelievable because he's such a role model for the whole country. Our country wouldn't be where it is without him. He's just an unbelievable man."

A South African newspaper photo showed Mandela gasping while looking at Neethling's gold medal.

"What's been great has been people's reactions," said Neethling, who showed the medal this week at a local gathering.

Neethling, the anchor in the team's world record performance of 3 minutes, 13.17 seconds, said the support he's received has been overwhelming - here and in South Africa.

"I've signed all kinds of body parts on old ladies and young ladies," he said, laughing. "In South Africa the support has been unbelievable."

Another highlight was his introduction to Els.

"We were somewhere and (Els) was doing an interview and after it he said 'I want to meet this Neethling guy,' " said Neethling, who was right behind Els at the time. "He was like 'you guys were awesome.' Here was this guy who was excited to meet me. We took a picture so he could send it to his kids. When he said that, that was great."

Neethling seems to be enjoying the spotlight the Olympics brought. He's traveled plenty - mostly in South Africa - stopping in two cities a day to meet and greet people.

"In South Africa, any of the cities you walk down the street and people recognize you," he said.

He's not alone. All his South African teammates are going through the same thing.

For Ferns, all the attention was almost too much.

"It was fun for a while being back home and getting all the attention," Ferns said. "But it got to be too much. After a few days you kind of just want to get out of there. Over here it's quiet. No one knows us."

Neethling said what made it special was it was a team effort and "we gave the country a lot of confidence and the whole country got a lift from the team."

It's a lift he hopes to give again in 2008. He's been back in the pool the last two weeks getting ready for the World Cup circuit, which begins next month and lasts for four months at various sites.

And with the South African federation making his effort financially worthwhile - there were some concerns of it not doing so before the Olympics - he's hoping to make it to another Olympics.

"I'll make enough so I can swim the next four years," Neethling said. "It won't be anything like the Americans will get, but I love what I do and I want to do it."