Pretoria quartet make South Africa proud with silver in relay at Commonwealth Games
The four athletes who won the silver medal for South Africa this past weekend in the 4x100m relay at the Commonwealth Games have undoubtedly proved that Pretoria is the headquarters of sprinters in South Africa.
For the second consecutive Commonwealth Games, the South African 4x100m-relay team set a new national record. However, the big difference this time around is that they also got to win the silver medal.
The South African team consisted of four local athletes from Pretoria, all of which are members of the TuksAtletics club. Henricho Bruintjies started the race, Emile Erasmus ran the second leg and gave the button to Anaso Jobodwana, while South Africa’s sprinting superstar, Akani Simbine, ran the last 100m to the finish line.
It was a real team effort by the South Africans, but the way Akani Simbine ran the last 100m does deserve a special mention. It was brute poetry in motion. Simbine was about the third athlete to receive the baton on the last changeover. For a moment it looked like the South Africans were going to miss out. But once the SA record holder in the 100m got into the full flight, there was no stopping him. He moved from fourth to third to second in a few metres. Unfortunately, there were not enough metres left to catch England’s Harry Aikines Aryeetey.
England won the relay at the Gold Coast Games running 38.13s. South Africa was second in 38.24s. It is a massive improvement on their previous record of 38.35s set during 2014 Glasgow Games. Jamaica was third in 38.35s.
Afterwards, an elated Simbine said it was an honour for him and his teammates to win the medal for South Africa.
The Commonwealth Games 100m champion, Simbine, admits to being surprised by his burst of speed.
“I knew I could finish strong, but I did not realise that I would be so fast. It is just the beginning of the season, and with my top end speed being this fast already, I cannot help to be excited about what I still possibly will be able to achieve,” said Simbine.
He emphasized that his main motivation the moment he received the baton was to win a medal for South Africa.
“What helped was that I was becoming aware that Yohan Blake was starting to accelerate and coming up next to me. I thought to myself there is no way that I am going to allow him to catch up with me,” said the Tuks sprinter that has managed to outsprint the Jamaican on two occasions during the Games.
The silver medallist in the 100m, Henricho Bruintjies, is of the opinion that as a relay-team they are capable of running even faster times.
“We managed to train together a few times during the Games which certainly helped, but we if we can do so more often there is no telling what we will be capable of. As they say, practice makes for perfection,” said Bruintjies.
Anaso Jobodwana, who got disqualified during the 200m heats after a technical error, said he was relieved to win a silver medal, which somewhat makes up for his disappointment of what has happened in the 200m.
Emile Erasmus, who came in as a replacement, was full of praise for how his teammates raced.
“It is a great honour for me to be racing with them especially since they are so passionate about what they are doing,” Erasmus concluded.
For free breaking and community news, visit Rekord’s websites:
For more news and interesting articles, like Rekord on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Instagram.
