Tag: Paris 2024

‹ Back

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 SA Performed at The Paralympics on Tuesday

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

There were two African records in the pool but no medals for Team SA on Tuesday at the 2024 Paralympics. They remain on two medals heading into Wednesday, following Mpumelelo Mhlongo’s T44 100m gold and Louzanne Coetzee’s T11 1500m silver. There were three sports represented by Team SA on the day – swimming, athletics and boccia.

PARA SWIMMING
Men’s 100m Backstroke – S7
Team SA’s Christian Sadie finished 5th in the evening final after placing 3rd in his morning heat, recording one of the eight fastest times in the heats.

Women’s 50m Backstroke – S5 – Heats
Team SA’s Kat Swanepoel finished 6th in her morning heat, setting a new African record. Unfortunately, her time was outside the top eight fastest finishers, which would have qualified her for the final.

Men’s 200m Individual Medley – SM13
Team SA’s Nathan Hendricks finished 7th in the evening final, setting a new African record in the process. This was Nathan’s 4th final of the Paralympic Games, having qualified in 4th place in his morning heat with one of the eight fastest times.

PARA ATHLETICS
Women’s 200m – T64
Team SA’s Tezna Abrahams finished 5th in her morning heat, achieving a personal best. However, her position and time were not enough to advance her to the final.

Women’s 400m – T37 – FINAL
Team SA’s Sheryl James and Liezel Gouws finished 4th and 5th, respectively, in the Women’s 400m T37 final, a race in which two of the top three finishers (1st and 3rd place) achieved personal best times to secure their positions.

BOCCIA
Mixed Pairs – BC3 – Preliminary Round – Pool D
Team SA’s Elanza Jordaan and Karabo Morapedi lost 7–0 in their opening pool match against their Brazilian competitors, followed by a 10–0 defeat against the duo from Greece.

How Team South Africa Performed on Sunday

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

How Team South Africa performed at the Paralympics on Sunday, 1 September 2024. 

PARA ATHLETICS 

Men’s 100m – T44 – Final
Star sprinter Mpumelelo Mhlongo kicked off Team SA’s medal count at the 2024 Paralympics in style—with a GOLD! On Sunday night, in front of a packed Stade de France, the men’s T44 100m world record holder crossed the finish line in 11.12 seconds to claim the top spot.

Women’s 1500m – T11 – Round 1 Heat
Team SA’s Louzanne Coetzee finished 2nd in her morning heat with a season’s best time, fast enough to qualify her for the Final.
She will compete in the Final on Monday, 2 September

Women’s Discuss Throw – F46 – Final
Team South Africa’s Yane van der Merwe faced a challenging day in the discus event, registering three failed throws for a “No Mark” result in her Paralympics appearance.

Men’s High Jump – T47 – Final
Team South Africa’s Khumo Pitso finished in 5th position with a New African Record jump of 1.98m in his first-ever Paralympics appearance.

Women’s Long Jump – T37 – Final 
Team SA’s Liezel Gouws finished 8th in the long jump event with a leap of 3.62m.
She will next compete in the T37 400m Final on Tuesday, 3 September.

Men’s 100m – T64 – Round 1 Heats
Team SA’s Paul Daniels finished 4th in his heat, setting a New African Record. Unfortunately, his time was just 0.01s outside the fastest times needed to qualify for the final.
He will next compete in the T62 400m Final on Friday, 6 September.

Men’s 100m – T64 – Round 1 Heats
Team SA’s Paul Daniels finished 7th in his heat, in a time that was, unfortunately, outside of the fastest times required to qualify for the final.
He next competes in the T62 400m Final on Friday, 6 September

Men’s 100m – T63 – Round 1 Heats
Team SA’s Puseletso Mabote won his heat with a time that equaled the Paralympic Record (12.05), qualifying for the Final on Monday, 2 September

PARA ARCHERY
Men’s Individual W1 1/8 Elimination Round & Quarter Final

Shaun Anderson’s 2024 Paralympics journey ended with a mix of pride and emotion at the Esplanade de Invalides. Competing in his third Games, the Team SA archer narrowly lost in the quarter-finals to China’s No.1 seed, Tianxin Zhang, 136-134, after an impressive upset against Turkey’s No.6 seed, Yigit Aydin, 133-132.

Reflecting on the experience, the 51-year-old said, “I couldn’t be prouder. Competing against the best in the world as the 34th-ranked archer is something special.” Shaun credited the crowd’s energy for pushing him through, joking about celebrating with a couple of beers later.

Despite the close loss, he’s not ruling out another shot at the Games, saying, “I don’t use the word ‘can’t.’ My hashtag is #i’mpossible. If you put your mind to something, you can do it.”

Who knows? We might just see him in Los Angeles in 2028.

WHEELCHAIR TENNIS
Men’s Singles – Second Round
Team South Africa’s Alwande Sikhosana was eliminated from the competition after a 1–6, 0–6 loss to his Japanese opponent.

Men’s Quad Doubles – Semi Final
Team South Africa’s doubles duo, Lucas Sithole and Donald Ramphadi, lost in two sets (1–6, 1–6) to their highly-ranked Dutch counterparts.
They will compete in the Bronze medal match on Wednesday, 4 September.