Schoeman won his triathlon event in an impressive 52 minutes and 31 seconds.
The Vereeniging local came out third in the swim leg of the event, but lost a few places during the transition into the cycling leg. He maintained a top five position in the second leg of the event, but dropped back into the pack on the first lap of the running leg.
He claimed gold ahead of Australian triathlete Jacob Birtwhistle, after the second lap of the run.
The bronze medal went to Scottish triathlete Marc Austin.
It’s Games time!! Excited and ready to compete tomorrow ??♂️??♂️??♂️?? pic.twitter.com/xYxJ5Wg150
— Henri Schoeman (@H_Schoeman) April 4, 2018
In another proudly South African moment, Richard Murray finished in sixth place during a triathlon event, and finished ahead of Olympic silver medalist Johnathan Brownlee.
Wian Sullwald, another South African triathlete, finished in 20th place.
South Africa is currently ranked second for gold medals, along with Bermuda and Malaysia. India leads with two gold medals.
Team South Africa comprises of 198 athletes, and has participated in four Commonwealth Games since 1994, accruing 117 gold medals, 112 silver medals and 123 bronze medals thus far.
#Day1 of competition. And we’re off! The first events kicked off on the Gold Coast this morning; and the first medal will be awarded in Triathlon at c1130AEST. 19 gold medals, 13 sports, 14 venues. Let’s do this! #GC2018 pic.twitter.com/DjKJdrIpgG
— Commonwealth Games Federation (@thecgf) April 5, 2018
Picture: Facebook