Sliep bags two more gold medals
Sliep says nothing would be possible without the hand of God.
Ex-Springs resident Hans Sliep recently received two gold medals at the 2017 World Biathle-Triathle Championships.
The event took place in Viverio, Spain where he competed in the Masters 70+ category.
The 70-year-old athlete says the two medals will find a place in his already full trophy and medal room at his house in Witfield.
According to him the water during the biathle event was freezing cold at 14 degrees celcius and the competitors were more or less equal
“The biathle event sees competitors race in a 400m run, 100m swim and another 400m run,” he says.
Sliep, who is also an International Association of Athletes Federation coach, used his running skills to open up the distance between him and other competitors, and to give himself an advantage.
The triathle event included four consecutive rounds of shooting, a 400m swim and a 400m run.
During the shooting event athletes shoot at electronic targets with laser pistols.
“I was quite impressed with the opening ceremony which saw teams from 18 countries march through historical parts of Viverio,” he says.
Something he will always treasure is the new friends he met.
He was accompanied by his wife Shelma, who is his biggest supporter.
The couple did some travelling and were quite impressed with their travelling arrangements.
Sliep says the travelling arrangements were done by a local travel centre in Sixth Avenue, CBD.
He gave credit to Tammy Macfie who did a great job with a difficult trip.
Sliep claims the rest of the group of 97 athletes from South Africa were not so lucky as they sometimes had a problem with transport.
“We, on the other hand, experienced no problems whatsoever,” he says.
Macfie says she worked out a plan for Sliep and his wife that best suited their travel needs.
