South African athletes won four gold medals on the second day of the 2005 Pacific School Games in Melbourne, Australia, on Tuesday.
Jan (JP) Hoffman, world youth shot-put champion and one of the top athletes at the meeting, won the discus for boys in the 17-to-19 category with a good distance of 48,43m.
In the same age group, Anele Zondwayo, of Eastern Cape, won the 3 000m with a fast time of eight minutes and 27,83 seconds, but in the younger division (15 to 16), Bloemfontein schoolboy Dumisani Hlaselo ran even faster when he clocked eight minutes and 17,19 seconds in one of the most impressive performances of the day.
Only one South African junior has run faster this year. Hlaselo’s time was an improvement of more than 11 seconds on his previous best.
Earlier in the day, Hlaselo also qualified for the 800m final by winning his heat in one minute and 56,70 seconds.
Allan Syce, of Western Cape, won South Africa’s third gold medal in the 17-to-19 group when he cleared the high-jump cross bar at 2,08m.
Three girls also won medals. In the 200m (13 to 14), Alyssa Conley, of Central Gauteng, won the silver medal with a time of 24,92 seconds, while Boland’s Wenda Theron finished third in the 17-to-19 category 200m, clocking 24,94 seconds.
Nicholeen McLaren, of Mpumalanga, won the bronze medal in the long jump (15 to 16) with a jump of 5,64m. Christy Coetzee of Gauteng finished fifth with 5,6m. — Sapa