Hart High grad and 3-time Olympian Anthony Ervin earned gold Sunday at the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Team USA was trailing in the second heat of the men’s 4×100 freestyle relay when Ervin pulled it out. He finished his leg of the heat in just 47.65 seconds, giving the U.S. the win and a spot in the finals.

Ervin, 35, didn’t swim in the final event – those honors went to teammates Michael Phelps, Caeleb Dressel, Ryan Held and Nathan Adrian – but because he helped get the U.S. to the podium, he adds another gold medal to his trophy case.

Or more correctly, it replaces the one he auctioned off to raise money for tsunami victims.

It’s his first medal of the 2016 Games, his second Olympic gold medal and his third overall – and this one was long in coming. Sixteen years ago at Sydney, Ervin won gold in the 50-meter freestyle and silver in the 4×100 freestyle relay.

A lot happened in between. From Hart High School (1999) and Canyons Aquatic Club to the Olympics in 2000 at age 19, he quit swimming competitively three years later.

According to the flyleaf of his memoir, “Chasing Water: Elegy of an Olympian,” released in April: “He is an athlete branded with a slew of titles including being the first US Olympic swimmer of African American descent, along with Jewish heritage, who also grew up with Tourette’s syndrome. He shocked the sporting world by retiring soon after claiming two world titles following the 2000 Olympics. Auctioning off his gold medal for charity, he set off on a part spiritual quest, part self-destructive bender that involved Zen temples, fast motorcycles, tattoo parlors, and rock ‘n’ roll bands. Then Ervin resurfaced in 2012 to not only make the US Olympic team twelve years after his first appearance, but to continue his career by swimming faster than ever before, and faster than anyone else.”

In 2010, just before restarting his professional swimming career, Ervin graduated from U.C. Berkeley with a degree in English.

His 16-year gap between Olympic medals ties a U.S. record set in 1924.