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SA WRAP: Blitzboks blaze early trail of success for Team SA in Paris

general27 July 2024 20:05
By:Karien Jonckheere
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The Blitzboks ensured South Africa were one of just 18 countries to feature on the medal table after the first official day of competition at the Olympic Games in Paris on Saturday.

Having scraped into the competition by securing the last possible qualification spot last month, and then losing their first two pool matches, the South Africans pulled off the most remarkable of comebacks to clinch the bronze medal with a 26-19 victory over Australia in the bronze medal playoff at the Stade de France.

Speaking after the match, an elated Ryan Oosthuizen said: “Honestly, I don’t have words. A lot of people didn’t give us a chance. We only qualified for the Games by repêchage, and if someone had said then, ‘You will be standing on the podium at the end’, I never would have believed them.

“It’s really awesome, a credit to the boys. I think we really fought for one another.

“We had an argument after day one about our standards. But we came together and said: ‘We have to fight for South Africa’. We are defiant people. And we did it. I am so glad.”

While the Blitzboks were collecting their medals at the Stade de France, swimmer Erin Gallagher took to the blocks for her first-ever Olympic semifinal after booking her place with a time of 57.80 seconds in her morning 100m butterfly heat.

There was disappointment to come though as the 2022 Commonwealth Games 50m butterfly silver medallist swam slower in her semifinal, finishing seventh in a time of 57.90 seconds, well off the African record time of 57.32 she set at the SA Championships in April.

“That was really tough… I know I’m more capable than what I just swam,” said a tearful Gallagher who has struggled with a shoulder injury in the build-up to these Games. “There are always going to be lessons learned. It would just be nice if I didn’t have to learn them at the Olympics.

“It just felt like it’s over so quickly. You don’t really have much time to think. It’s a big privilege to be here, but it’s tough,” she added.

Earlier in the day, rower Paige Badenhorst finished third in her single sculls heat to secure automatic qualification for Tuesday’s quarterfinals.

“The plan was to have no expectations really, to just go out, go out hard, see where I’m positioned and then sort of play the field and see what happens,” she explained afterwards.

“I wanted to have an aggressive first race, especially for the physical side of it. Just hurt the body a bit on the first day, get one under my belt and get a bit of experience from it.

“I did learn a lot from that race and there will be some changes that I try and take into the next one.”

Elsewhere, judo star Geronay Whitebooi got her Olympic campaign off to a promising start with victory over Guatemala’s Jacqueline Solis in her first match in the -48kg category.

But the Commonwealth Games gold medallist then came up against Japan’s three-time world champion Natsumi Tsunoda in her second match, losing by Ippon within 69 seconds.

Tsunoda eventually went on to claim the gold medal after beating Mongolia’s Baasankhuu Bavuudorj in the final.

The SA men’s hockey team were handed the toughest of starts to their Olympic campaign, coming up against world No 1 the Netherlands in their opener.

Things didn’t look good when the South Africans fell 5-1 behind, but an impressive second half that included two unanswered goals, gave the SA side plenty to be optimistic about as they head into their second group game against Great Britain on Sunday.

"These boys are quality from Holland, the No 1 in the world,” said goalscorer Mustapha Cassiem afterwards. “I think we had a better second half, but to bounce back like that (from 5-1 down) shows the quality of our side.

"We knew that if we conceded more than three goals against the Dutch it was going to be a very tough game, but we always have that in us, the goalscoring abilities. We have a good striking force and some good attacking midfielders, so we are really happy with that on the offensive side, but defensively we can fix a few things."

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