South African swimmer Natalie du Toit, who lost her lower left leg in a motorcycle accident two years ago, won a gold medal in the 800m freestyle at the All-Africa Games.
Du Toit clocked 9 minutes and 9,66 seconds to defeat Shrone Austin of the Seychelles by less than four seconds.
”I really just look at my leg as something I have had to get over while I get on with the rest of my life,” said Du Toit, a 19-year-old, first-year genetics student at the University of Cape Town.
Du Toit took the lead after 150m, and stretched it to more than six seconds at one point, before Austin attempted to haul her back in.
Her gold medal was the most glittering of four won on Tuesday by South Africa in what has been an extraordinary championship for the team. Their swimming gold tally stands at 12 after three days, out of a possible 18.
Four games records were broken during the evening:
Salim Iles of Tunisia clocked 50,32 in winning the 100m freestyle final;
South African Romy Altmann took 1:02,89 in the 100m backstroke;
Ahmed Mostafa of Egypt’s 2:02,46 was the gold-medal winning time for the 200m backstroke; and
the South African women’s 4x100m freestyle relay squad rounded off the day with victory in 3:52,74, giving Lauren Roets her fourth gold medal of the games.
Host Nigeria scored its first medal of the games — a silver in the badminton team event. South Africa grabbed the gold in that event, a thrilling encounter that went right down to the final mixed-doubles clash, with South Africans Antoinette Uys and Chris Dednam winning by two sets to one.
In women’s soccer, South Africa forward Veronica Phena’s two goals led her team to a 3-1 victory over Algeria, and guaranteed them a spot in the medal round.
In the other women’s soccer match, Mali drew 0-0 with Democratic Republic of Congo.
Nigeria affirmed its position as the favoured men’s soccer team by defeating South Africa 3-0. Nigerian player Alfre Emoefe led the way with two goals in front of a capacity crowd in Bauchi.
Senegal, normally one of the strongest African soccer nations, failed to win again as they lost to Zambia 2-1. — Sapa-AP