North Coast Olympians Zakithi Nene and Hamish Lovemore returned from Paris with a national record and top-10 finish between them. Umhlanga resident Nene (26, formerly of Ballito) and Umdloti-based Lovemore (24) reached a combined three semi-finals and one final over the past two weeks of Olympic competition.

Nene, a 400m specialist, was knocked out at the semi-final stage of the individual competition, but made the men’s 4x400m relay final after a thrilling qualifying race. The team of Gardeo Isaacs, Lythe Pillay, Anthonie Nortje and Nene looked comfortable to start the qualifying race before disaster struck and Nortje tripped and fell during the third leg.

Despite finishing in last position however, the team was given automatic qualification to the final on appeal after Nortje was found to have been impeded. It set up a mouthwatering final on Saturday evening and the local foursome were hoping to match their World Relay Championship silver from earlier in the year. They finished fifth, but their time of 2.58:12 was good enough to break the South African record.

For Lovemore, who competed in the canoe sprint section of the games, Paris was his first taste of Olympic competition. He made it through to the semi-final stage of both the individual K1 1km sprint and K2 500m sprint alongside paddling partner, 14-time Dusi Canoe Marathon winner Andy Birkett. The duo missed out on final qualification by just 19 hundredths of a second, but would finish 12th overall after the placement round on Friday afternoon.

Lovemore was back in the water the next morning, trying to overcome tired muscles for the individual 1km semi-final. The fatigue showed in a particularly quick race however, and he finished four seconds off the qualifying pace. But he bounced back admirably in ‘Final B’ later that afternoon, bettering his semi-final time by six seconds and finishing first overall in 3.27:94. That confirmed him as the 9th best paddler in the world over 1km, quite an accomplishment in his first Olympics.

Overall, Team South Africa returned from Paris with six medals. Tatjana Smith (née Schoenmaker, swimming) matched her Tokyo heroics to claim the country’s sole gold medal, also adding a silver to become South Africa’s most decorated Olympian in history. The men’s 4x100m team claimed an exciting silver medal on the track, while Jo-Ane van Dyk added a fantastic silver in women’s javelin. Alan Hatherly (men’s cross country cycling) and the men’s rugby sevens team rounded out the medal tally with two bronze medals.

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