Ashley Erasmus (19), who was set to make her Olympic debut in Paris this year, will miss out after suffering an ankle injury, while Rosko Specman has made history as the first SA sevens rugby player to win multiple Olympic medals.

Erasmus was due to make her Olympic debut in the women’s shot put event at the 2024 Paris Olympics after having qualified earlier this month as one of the top 30 senior women’s shot put athletes in the world. Her Olympic qualification came off the back of a record-shattering performance at the 2024 African Championships in Athletics.

Erasmus described it as a dream come true four years earlier than she’d expected. But now, only a few weeks later, this Olympic dream has come to a crashing halt for the time being.

ALSO READ: Former Nellie adds more gold to her collection at SA champs

During training last week, Erasmus suffered a syndesmotic injury, or simply, a high-ankle sprain. This occurs when you tear or damage the high-ankle ligaments that connect the tibia to the fibula, and is far less common than a lateral ankle sprain.

Erasmus underwent MRI scans to determine the severity of her injury, and it was decided that she needed to undergo an operation on her right ankle. This took place on July 31, and Erasmus indicated that the operation had gone well and that the outcome was positive. Her recovery time will now be six to eight weeks.

“Naturally, I’m very disappointed that I won’t be able to go the Olympics this year,” Erasmus said. “But I’ve accepted it and made peace with it, so the focus now is just to recover so that I can compete again as soon as possible.”

While Erasmus’s Olympic dreams are on the back burner for now, the former Airlink Pumas player, Rosko Specman, has made South African rugby history. The Blitzboks, SA’s rugby sevens team, won the bronze medal at the Paris Olympics.

They did so courtesy of a victory over Australia in the bronze final, having been knocked out of the semi-finals by the host nation, France. But simply reaching the semi-final stage was a defiance of the odds as the Blitzboks were the last country to qualify for the Olympics, having to do so via the World Rugby Sevens Repechage tournament held in June.

Specman was a key part of this Blitzbok side and his experience would have undoubtedly played a big role at the Olympics. He previously won a bronze medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics with the Blitzboks, and adding this year’s bronze medal to his collection makes Specman the first-ever South African rugby player to win multiple medals at the Olympic Games.