SA WRAP: Sprinters sizzle as hockey and rowing wrap up for Team SA
All eyes will be on the home straight of the Stade de France athletics track in Paris tomorrow night just after 8pm as three South Africans line up for the semifinals of the 100m. Hopes are that the trio will then return for the final later in the evening.
Among them is Akani Simbine who cruised to victory in his first-round heat on Saturday in a time of 10.03 seconds and said afterwards: “It was just a normal heat, a very comfortable heat. Just the starter held us very long in the blocks, but other than that it was fine. It was just about getting through to the next round. The body is feeling good, healthy and I'm looking forward to it.”
Simbine will be aiming to improve on his heartbreaking fourth place from Tokyo three years ago and finally reach a first Olympic podium. Asked if he was in the shape to do so, he reckoned: “It’s not about my physical state right now, it’s more mental.
"I think when you get to a championship, you’re physically ready, you have to be… and mentally, I’m here. It’s something I’ve been doing for 10 years now and I’m really enjoying it. I’m in a place where I feel peace and I get fulfilled when I’m on the track right now.
“But it’s always one race at a time at the moment... I’m looking forward to tomorrow and we’ll see what happens.”
COACH LEWIS
Also going straight through was US-based Shaun Maswanganyi, who is coached by nine-time Olympic champion Carl Lewis. He finished third in his heat in 10.06.
“I made a few mistakes in that race. I got a little bit too upright after I got ahead and lost the lead,” said Maswanganyi afterwards. “But I knew I went wrong with that, so I'm going to correct that in the next couple of sessions in my warm-up. I know I’ll focus on that with coach Carl.
“But just good to get the jitters out the way. It's a packed stadium, the fullest stadium I've ever run in… and it's exciting.
“It's honestly exciting just to run out there with [world champion] Noah Lyles, it's a different experience, but I’m taking that as a confidence boost, I know what it takes to compete with these guys.”
Joining them in the semifinals will be Benji Richardson, who finished fourth in his heat in 10.06 but went through as one of the fastest three non-automatic qualifiers.
“I was very nervous before the race,” admitted the 20-year-old afterwards. “But after the race everything just settled down. I came in here with a lot of pressure but now I feel better, and I know the semis will be a lot better than this. I’m more confident now.”
Later in the evening, SA’s 1500m runners Tshepo Tshite and Ryan Mphahlele returned to the track to complete in the newly introduced repechage round – for those who don’t claim the automatic qualifying spots in their heats.
Tshite just missed out on the top three place he needed to progress to the semifinals, finishing fourth in a time of 3:35.35.
Mphahlele went out at a blistering pace in his repechage and led for much of the race before dropping well back and finishing 11th in 3:36.64.
Elsewhere on Saturday, rower Paige Badenhorst finished second in the C final of the single sculls, meaning she placed 14th overall.
“I'm really happy with how today's race went. I think it was a nice way to end off my first Olympics. I got a personal best in today's race, so a good note to end on,” she said afterwards.
“I've loved every minute of being part of Team SA and representing my country… The Olympic bug is there and I definitely want to come back and improve on this performance. The next four years starts now and I'm looking forward to representing my country again and again and hopefully at the Olympics again.”
The SA women’s hockey team couldn’t manage to give veteran Dirkie Chamberlain a winning sendoff in her 250th match for the country, going down 1-0 to the USA.
VAST IMPROVEMENT
While the South Africans have ended the tournament winless, there is some consolation in their vastly improved performance at these Games. They lost just one of their five pool matches by more than one goal, playing against teams all ranked higher in the world standings and most of them with professional set-ups.
“It's very exciting for South African hockey as it's always been tough for us coming out on the world stage and facing teams that are well funded and have a great programme from start to end,” said forward Ongeziwe Mali.
“It's been an amazing journey. Also, just coming up and being an Olympian is something that I'm forever grateful for… We hope to inspire the next generation and to give a sense of hope to never give up on one's dream, and the sky's the limit.”
Chamberlain added: “I hope I've left the jersey in a better place. That's one of the most important things I've wanted and I'm just super happy to be able to finish here.
“Unfortunately, not a win, but the performances we've given this week here at the Olympic Games, I'm so, so proud of my team. It's incredible and hopefully they can keep going forward with this and the next generation can keep the ball rolling.”
ROCKETING UP
Meanwhile, over at Le Golf National, Christiaan Bezuidenhout shot an impressive third-round 64 to climb 22 places up the leaderboard for a share of 13th place where he’s joined by Erik van Rooyen after his round of 69. Spain's Jon Rahm and American Xander Scheuffele currently share the lead one shot ahead of Britain’s Tommy Fleetwood.
The only other South African in action on Saturday was cyclist Ryan Gibbons who finished 69th in the men’s road race. He was almost 20 minutes behind Belgian winner Remco Evenepoel, who claimed his second gold of the Games after victory in the individual time trial last weekend.
Advertisement