Olympic swimmer Cody Miller set a new American record, bringing home a bronze medal in the 100-meter breaststroke in his first Olympic Games.

His time was 58.87 seconds.

“I've been dreaming about this since I was a little kid, and you never really think it's going to happen until it finally does," Miller said after the race. "I have a lot of people to thank, everyone back at IU, everyone back home in Las Vegas, everyone across the country, my fiancé, my family.”

His father Craig Miller did not get to see son Cody reach the milestone. Miller battled years of addiction and ended up living on the streets in San Diego's Ocean Beach neighborhood.

He died on Christmas last year outside an office building near Cable Street.

Sgt. Sal Hurtado from the San Diego Police Department patrols Ocean Beach. He told NBC 7 that he sat down for coffee with Craig Miller weeks before he died.

While Miller didn’t talk about Cody specifically, Hurtado says the man had a sense of pride about his life before he ended up homeless.

“He did kind of have this sense of pride about him. You could see it in his demeanor. His chest kind of got big, his voice really got firm and he knew that he was proud of his family,” Hurtado said.

Miller would reportedly visit local libraries to check online to see how his son was doing in his quest to make the Olympic team. People living on the streets of Ocean Beach said he went by the name Ce-Ce.

Cody Miller had been estranged from his father since he was very young.

In an interview, the Olympian told the Las Vegas Review-Journal: “My father unfortunately lost himself to drug and alcohol addiction. He was a good man. He loved the water very much.”

Cody was filled with emotion after his performance on the international stage.

"I'm like, on the verge of tears. I'm like ready to scream. I'm just like everything all balled up in one just ready to come out," he said.

Sgt. Hurtado said he believes the humble man he knew from the streets of Ocean Beach would have been filled with emotion, too.

“I know he's looking down at him right now and probably with a big smile on his face, you know, cheering his son on being very proud," Hurtado said.