VICTORIA, British Columbia -- South Africa, in the Commonwealth Games for the first time in 36 years, has earned its first medal after a controversial cycling finish.


Also on Sunday, Australia's 10-race winning streak in the pool ended in stunning fashion with three losses, and Canada swept all five wrestling finals.


Mark Rendell, a plumber, won the grueling men's 181.9-kilometer cycling road race in 4 hours, 46 minutes, 7.91 seconds, leading a 1-2 New Zealand finish.


South African Willem Engelbrecht was awarded the bronze medal after a protest by Australian Grant Rice against England's Chris Lillywhite, the original third-place finisher.


Following the appeal, Lillywhite, who was accused of impeding Rice's progress, was dropped to fifth, Rice was elevated from fifth to fourth and Engelbrecht was moved from fourth to third.


"I feel vindicated," Rice said. "I was in third place with 100 meters to race and Lillywhite reached out and grabbed me by the shorts to give himself a sling past me. There was no reason for Lillywhite to do what he did. I had ridden with the guy for four hours and he does this to me."


Lillywhite said he fended off Rice because "the Australian saw me coming and tried to put me into the wall."


The smiling Engelbrecht was presented his medal by Michael Fennell, newly elected president of the Commonwealth Games Federation.


The last time the South Africans competed in the games, at Cardiff, Wales in 1958, they won 31 medals -- 13 golds, 10 silvers and 8 bronzes.


Rendell won by more than two minutes over teammate Brian Fowler, who earned his third consecutive silver medal and his sixth medal in a career dating to the 1982 Commonwealth Games.


Fowler, a three-time Olympian, dedicated the race to his late father. Trevor Fowler died in a velodrome accident only two days before the 1990 games.


"It's four years later and I'm at the games again," the emotional Fowler, the New Zealand flag bearer, said before Sunday's race. "It has brought it all back. It's hard to forget about a thing like that. There are a lot of memories that are flooding back right now."


In swimming, Canadian Stephen Clarke, a student at the University of Florida, stopped the Aussies' winning streak by rallying to take the men's 100-meter freestyle in a personal-best 50.21, and then Australia lost two more races.


The Australians, who had won 10 races in a row after England's Karen Pickering took the opening event, the women's 100 freestyle, got 2-3 in the men's race. Chris Fydler was the runner-up at 50.51, and Andrew Baildon, the defending champion and games' record-holder at 49.80, finished third at 50.71, after having assumed the early lead.


The men's event was the second of the night, following the women's 400 freestyle, won by Hayley Lewis of Australia in 4:12.56. Lewis, also the gold medalist in 1990 when she won five golds and one bronze, now has two golds and one silver at these games.


She led a 1-2 Aussie finish, with Stacey Gartrell the runner-up in 1:02.90.