Natalie du Toit spearheaded South Africa to its ninth Athens Paralympic gold medal with a world record 2min 29,98sec in the 200m individual medley on Thursday night, adding to the world record gold by Nicholas Newman in the javelin at the Olympic Stadium earlier in the day.
Du Toit generated loud applause from the packed Aquatic Centre when she cut under her own world mark of 2:32,19 that she had set in the morning heats.
There was much to celebrate in the SA camp on Thursday night after Du Toit’s stunning sub-2:30 performance and the superb effort by Newman who, competing in the F36 class for cerebral palsy, threw the javelin 38,09m for gold with his first throw, beating his previous best of 36,85m.
”This has been an amazing experience for me,” enthused Du Toit, who swam the 100m butterfly in a world record 1:07,69 on Sunday, followed by the 100m freestyle in a Paralympic 1:02,83 record. ”The stands have been full and the spirit in the team is really great.
”I had a nice break (on Wednesday) and I felt quite strong out there. When I turned at 31,68 in the fly, I knew I was on my way to the record if I just kept it together in the breaststroke — you know, keep my stroke smooth and long. Once I was into the freestyle, I just gave it my all.
”I’ve swum my best times here, what more could I ask for?” Du Toit, a one leg amputee from Cape Town, has been the quality feature at the Aquatic Centre. She takes on the 400m freestyle — her strongest event — on Friday, followed by the 100m backstroke on Saturday and finishes her spectacular swimming campaign with the 50m freestyle on Sunday.
Newman, surrounded by his family and proudly wearing his gold medal as he left the Olympic Stadium, said it felt like he was walking on clouds. ”I’m going to relax, then I’m going to party,” he grinned.
”It was between me and the Polish athlete. I knew that one of us would win and I had a feeling that it would be me. It’s my first medal and I hope I get another one,” said Newman. ”I’m so happy.”
Jane Mandean, competing in the cerebral palsy class, finished fourth in the women’s shot put with a personal best 7,58m. ”It was good competition. I enjoyed it and learned a lot.”
Also in cerebral palsy, Teboho Mokgalagadi, Irvine de Kock, Fabian Michaels and Malcolm Pringle finished fourth in the 4x100m final, while Pringle qualified for the 200m final with a second-placed 24,60sec in the morning.
Chennele van Zyl finished ninth in the same shot put competition as Mandean, where Bev Masinini, the bronze medal winner in the javelin, was ninth.
Abe Hubbard and Joppie Victor went down 3-0 to France in table tennis, while Michael Louwrens decided against competing in the discus event, saving himself for the shot put.
On Friday, du Toit surged through to the 400m freestyle finals as clear favourite for her fourth gold medal, to bring SA’s tally to ten. The Cape Town leg amputee left the field way back as she powered to a 4min 43,66sec win in her heat in the Aquatic Centre. Her world record is 4:35,17.
She dominated the heats to such an extent in this, her favourite Paralympic distance, that she is certain to add the 400 freestyle medal on Friday night to the 100 butterfly (world record), 100 freestyle (Paralympic record) and world record 200 IM that she has won this week.
At the Olympic Stadium, Oscar Pistorius, the double amputee who was the sensational world record winner of the 200m, qualified second in his 100m heat in the morning session. He races the 100 final on Saturday.
Pistorius ran 11,43sec against single amputee, American Marlon Shirley, who is the world record holder who lost his lower right leg in a landmine explosion in the war in Iraq.
Pistorius’ 11,43 is a world record for T43 class (double amputee).
”I’ve got to get more experience in the 100,” said Pistorius. ”I need to improve my starts.”
Ernst van Dyk qualified for the 800m wheelchair finals on Saturday and Sonja Lloyd finished ninth in the javelin.
In swimming Tadgh Slattery (100 breaststroke), and Ebert Kleynhans (100 freestyle) made it into Friday night’s finals, but Oliver Nathan, Handri de Beer and young Charl Bouwer failed to advance in their heats. – Sapa