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Bronze lining for SA in Tokyo as relay team break eight-year medal drought

Roxanne MartinNewsLeave a Comment on Bronze lining for SA in Tokyo as relay team break eight-year medal drought

It took until the final day of the World Athletics Championships, but the quartet of Lythe Pillay, Udeme Okon, Wayde van Niekerk and Zakithi Nene ensured Team South Africa will not leave Tokyo empty-handed after securing a bronze medal in the 4x400m relay. That brought to an end an eight-year World Championships medal drought. By Karien Jonckheere

The foursome tore round the track in two minutes 57.83 seconds with Zakithi almost pipping world and Olympic 400m hurdles champion Rai Benjamin on the line for the silver, but the American just edged ahead by two thousandths of a second with Botswana taking gold in 2:57.76. 

Gardeo Isaacs and Leendert Koekemoer, who will also be awarded the bronze medal, had made way for Van Niekerk and Nene for the final, with Van Niekerk expressing his gratitude for ending his 400m career on a high. 

“I really don’t want to make the team effort a personal thing, but it was really an amazing opportunity for me,” admitted the 400m world record holder afterwards, adding a shoutout to his teammates. “I think they know my journey, the last few years fighting with the 400m… I’m really just grateful to each and every one of them for pushing for me and fighting for me to be here.

“It’s really a privilege that I can finish off my 400m career with a medal, and hopefully it gives them some motivation to go and get some more medals for themselves.”

Wayde’s, whose medal collection includes Rio Olympic gold in the 400 as well as two 400m world titles and a 200m silver, added that he hoped the bronze would inspire his teammates to bigger things.

“I think I’m glad it’s a bronze because now it gives them reason to fight for silver and gold for themselves individually and then as a team as well,” he said.

Lythe was excited about the future potential of the team that included Udeme, who has just turned 20, and 18-year-old Leendert.

“We’re still a very young team, we have a lot of potential going forward,” he said. “I grew up wanting to run like Wayde. I started running chasing Zak and Gardeo, now Udeme and Leendert are chasing me, so we have a really great flow of athletes… so just up from here.”

With the World Athletics Championships coming to a close on Sunday, a look back reveals there were several injury disappointments and close shaves for Team SA, but also plenty to celebrate apart from the bronze medal, with the country’s sprinters really making their mark by reaching their respective finals of the 100m (Gift Leotlela and Akani Simbine), 200m (Sinesipho Dambile) and 400m (Nene).

How Team SA Performed at The Paralympics on Wednesday

Tanika LaskeyFeatures, NewsLeave a Comment on How Team SA Performed at The Paralympics on Wednesday

The Paralympic classification system can be tricky, and that was clear when Mpumelelo Mhlongo broke the world record in the T44 long jump at the Stade de France but still finished in fifth place. Mhlongo, who already held the world record at 7.07m, competed against athletes in the T62 and T64 classes. Mhlongo improved his own record to 7.12m.

On Wednesday, Team South Africa secured two more bronze medals at the 2024 Paralympics. Pieter du Preez, in the men’s H1 individual cycling time trial, and the wheelchair tennis quad doubles team of Donald Ramphadi and Lucas Sithole, both came through in style to bring Team SA’s total medal count to four.

WHEELCHAIR TENNIS
Men’s Quad Doubles – BRONZE MEDAL MATCH
Team SA’s doubles duo, Donald Ramphadi and Lucas Sithole, defeated their Brazilian competitors in three sets (6–2; 4–6; [10]–[8]) to win South Africa’s fourth medal — a bronze — finishing in third position overall.

PARA CYCLING ROAD
Men’s Individual Time Trial – H1 (FINAL)
Team SA’s Pieter du Preez secured South Africa’s third medal — a bronze — after finishing in third position.

PARA SWIMMING
Women’s 100m Freestyle – S12 – Heats
Team SA’s Alani Ferreira finished eighth in her morning heat. Unfortunately, her time was outside of the top eight fastest finishers, which would have qualified her for the final.

Men’s 50m Freestyle – S7 – Heats
Team SA’s Christian Sadie finished seventh in the evening final, setting a new African record. Christian qualified for the final after placing fourth in his morning heat with one of the eight fastest times.

PARA EQUESTRIAN
Individual Event – Grade IV (FINAL)
Team SA’s Philippa Johnson-Dwyer finished the competition in 14th position.

PARA ATHLETICS
Men’s Shot Put – F46 – FINAL
Team SA’s Kerwin Noemdo concluded the competition in fifth position.

Men’s Long Jump – T64 – FINAL
Team SA’s Mpumelelo Mhlongo set a new T44 World Record with a jump of 7.12m, placing him fifth in the T64 competition.

Women’s 100m – T37 – Round 1 Heats
Team SA’s Sheryl James finished third in her heat, earning automatic qualification for the Thursday morning final

How Team South Africa Performed on Tuesday

Tanika LaskeyFeatures, NewsLeave a Comment on How Team South Africa Performed on Tuesday

Team SA began Tuesday with three medals at the 2024 Paris Olympics, thanks to Alan Hatherly and Tatjana Smith’s contributions on Monday. On Tuesday, our athletes are competing in five different sports.

Rowing:  Women’s Single Sculls, Quarter-Finals
Paige Bandenhorst finished fourth in her quarter-final. The top three from each of the four heats advance to semi-finals A/B, while the remaining competitors go to semi-finals C/D.
Therefore, Bandenhorst will be competing for places 13th to 24th.

Swimming: Men’s 200m Butterfly, Heats
Matthew Sates finished 6th with a time of 1:57.04, placing him 20th overall and missing a spot in the semi-finals.

Cycling (BMX):  Men’s Park Qualification
Vincent Leygonie did not finish in the top 9 and was eliminated after placing 12th with a points average of 75.85 over two runs.

Rugby Sevens
Women’s 11th/12th pace playoff: Team SA 21 Fiji 15

Men’s Hockey
Men’s Pool A: Team SA 1 Germany 5

Team South Africa’s men’s hockey players continued their demanding schedule by playing their third match in four days at the 2024 Paris Olympics, this time facing Germany. On Tuesday they went down 5-1 to sixth-ranked Germany.

Having previously defeated Germany at Tokyo 2020, Team SA aimed to deliver another memorable performance, hoping to honor head coach Cheslin Gie’s birthday. However, Germany quickly took the lead. In the final minute of the first quarter, Christopher Ruhr doubled Germany’s lead with a penalty stroke.

Justus Weigand extended the lead to 3-0 when he scored from within the circle. Despite a good chance for South Africa, the shot went wide. The second period was uneventful, and Germany maintained their 3-0 lead at halftime.

Early in the second half, South African goalkeeper Gowan Jones made several saves before a counterattack almost resulted in a goal for South Africa, earning applause from the crowd. South Africa then won a penalty corner, which Matt Guise-Brown converted to make it 3-1. However, Germany soon restored their three-goal advantage with a penalty corner goal by Gonzalo Peillat.

South Africa had another penalty corner opportunity after good work from Bili Ntuli, but Mustapha Cassiem’s shot was saved, and his rebound went over the crossbar. In the final minutes, a defensive error allowed Mats Grambusch to score Germany’s fifth goal with a brilliant shot into the top right corner.

Despite the defeat, South Africa now turns its focus to the next game against Spain on Wednesday, where they will compete for potential quarter-final places.

Photo by: Mimmo Perna

Dreams Do Come True

Tanika LaskeyFeatures, NewsLeave a Comment on Dreams Do Come True

It’s been a fantastic year for Thabang Mosiako, with scintillating performances over the 10km and half marathon distances that have thrust him into the top three or four on the all-time South African performance lists. He recently led Team South Africa to a bronze medal at the World Road Running Champs, and there appears to be more to come from this prodigiously talented athlete, but it wasn’t so very long ago that he was in despair and thinking of hanging up his running shoes for good. – BY Manfred  Seidler