Two women, three medals. Unless one of the three men made the podium in the marathon early this morning, for the first time in SA Olympic history, SA's total haul was delivered by women.
Swimmer Tatjana Schoenmaker and surfer Bianca Buitendag won their silvers on the same day, the first Tuesday of the Tokyo showpiece, before Schoenmaker added her 200m breaststroke gold a few days later.
SA scored on two out of 15 days until yesterday. Many pundits had touted Gerda Steyn a medal shot in yesterday's women's marathon, where she ended in a respectable 15th spot in 2hr 32min 10sec.
The theory was that the heat of Sapporo would slow down the race, aiding her against faster runners.
Indeed, Kenyan victor Peres Jepchirchir crossed the line in 2:27:20, ahead of compatriot Brigid Kosgei in 2:27:36.
The disappointing results were the men’s four rowers and the Blitzboks
Both are sub-2:18 runners.
Steyn, armed with a 2:25:28 SA record, did capitalise on many faster rivals, but not with the efficiency of American bronze medallist Molly Seidel, who had an almost identical best of 2:25:13.
Perhaps the difference was their routes to Tokyo, with Seidel, 27, moving up in distance having started out in track. Reigning Comrades Marathon champion Steyn, 31, has shifted in the other direction, coming in down in distance.
Another stark difference is that the top six finishers yesterday ran their first marathons of the year.
Steyn set her SA mark in April and paced the first 30km of a 50km world record attempt in late May.
One has to wonder what might have happened had Steyn's talent been spotted early and nurtured properly over the years.
Not that such thoughts dimmed her radiant smile after the race.
"I'm really happy today with my 15th place," she said.
But if SA's athletics and Olympic bosses are thinking seriously about Paris 2024, they should start talking to Steyn and her Nedbank running club about keeping her in the 42km realm for the next three years.
Steyn's teammate, Irvette van Zyl, had a third straight disastrous Olympic marathon, crashing out after struggling with cramp. The 50km world record-holder was unable to finish at London 2012 and picked up an injury before she could start at Rio 2016.
If there's any consolation for her it's that 14 other entrants didn't finish - 17% of the field.
Dominique Scott was 21st in the women's 10,000m, taken by 5,000m champion Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands, who also bagged the 1,500m bronze.
Scott, who also competed in the 5,000m, was one of only two SA entrants in the distance races on the track. Precious Mashele competed in the men's 5,000m. That's just two competitors in 10 events, from 800m to 10,000m, which suggests a worrying lack of depth.
Elsewhere, track cyclist Jean Spies was eliminated in the repechages of the men's keirin.
By last night SA was lying 51st on the medals table, one below Slovakia and Philippines, and one spot above Austria.
SA's three medals surpass the two silvers of Barcelona 1992 and the single silver of Beijing 2008.
Thanks to Schoenmaker's gold, it also ranks higher than the five medals (two silver, three bronze) of Sydney 2000.
In the seven Games from Barcelona 1992 to Rio 2016, SA averaged five medals per showpiece.
Using that as the yardstick, Team SA has underperformed, though the only really disappointing results were delivered by the men's four rowers and the Blitzboks.
Akani Simbine can't be criticised for his fourth spot in the 100m.
And while the injury-hit 4x100m relay team's exit in the heats was disappointing, if not unacceptable, they would have needed to get close to their 37.65sec national record to have made the podium.
And that was unlikely given that this was not their best possible combination.
Still, there are worrying signs that SA Olympic sport is in decay unless firm steps are taken.
SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) heads did a deal with their Russian counterparts that they hope will boost local sport. As long as SA don't take anti-doping tips from the Russians, perhaps there could be benefits. Russian athletes have had to compete in Tokyo under the Russian Olympic Committee flag and playing Tchaikovsky's piano concerto No 1 as an anthem because of their country's documented anti-doping contraventions.
Sascoc president Barry Hendricks spoke about coaching programmes, youth development, the Russians helping SA chess and ice hockey, and SA helping the Russians sevens rugby team.
He also spoke about a possible deal with Brazil, who could assist SA with volleyball, which failed to qualify for Tokyo.
SA probably needs all the help it can get.
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