Athletics South Africa celebrates Olympic medals

The President of Athletics South Africa (ASA), Aleck Skhosana expressed his excitement after South African 400 m athlete Wayde van Niekerk set a new world record at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, smashing the 17-year-old record of Michael Johnson from America in a time of 43,03 seconds on Sunday evening.
Long jumper Luvo Manyonga also made for great excitement when he won silver with a distance of 8,37 m last Saturday.
“The best is yet to come. What we have seen here is outstanding performance that will dominate athletics conversations for many years to come. Van Niekerk just proved that he is in a class of his own. The silver medal from Manyonga let the cat among the pigeons because we can look forward to possible dominating of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Championships next year. He missed the gold medal by a mere one centimetre,” Skhosana said.
South African men’s coxless rowing team Shaun Keeling and Lawrence Brittain also achieved a silver medal in a time of 7:02.51 last Thursday.
While the country was celebrating Van Niekerk’s victory all eyes were also on Limpopo athlete Caster Semenya expected to compete in the 800 m yesterday (Wednesday).
At the South African Olympic trials in April, Semenya butchered the field in the 400 m and 800 m in respectively 50:78 and 1:58.45. In Monaco last month she ran the 800 m in a time of 1:55.33.
She recently decided to withdraw from the 400 m at the Olympics to concentrate on the 800 m.
“We look forward to all remaining athletes in the various events and hope they are all inspired to meet the challenge of reaching the Olympic podium as well,” Skhosana said.

Story: RC Myburgh
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Featured photo: Wayde van Niekerk, South Africa’s first ever Olympic gold medallist in the sprints.