Hardus Pienaar, winning his third successive gold medal at the 15th African Athletics Championships in a wind-swept Bambous, Mauritius, on Sunday, helped bring South Africa’s tally of gold medals to 10 and the total for the week to 27.
Janet Wienand (400m hurdles) and the South Africa’s women’s 4x400m relay team also won their events on the final day with times of 56,97 seconds and three minutes, 36,88 seconds respectively.
Pienaar, who defeated compatriot Gerbrand Grobler with a throw of 77,55m, turned 25 earlier in the week. Strong windy conditions prevailed on all five days and spoilt proceedings, and had a negative influence on the performances recorded.
Had it not been for the adverse weather conditions, the meeting would have compared favourably with other continental championships.
The final day also provided another major surprise when Mozambique’s superstar 800m runner Maria Mutola had to settle for a silver medal, thus failing to qualify for the IAAF World Cup meeting to be held in Athens next month. She was beaten by Janith Busienei of Kenya, who coped better with the windy weather to clock 2:00,64 against Mutola’s 2:01,80.
Geraldine Pillay, South Africa’s top female sprinter, added a second silver medal to her personal collection when she ran impressively in the 200m final to clock a fast 23,11 seconds against a strong headwind. As in the short sprint, she was defeated by Ghana’s Vida Anim.
Leigh Julius also added another medal to his collection by finishing third in the 200m in 20,82 seconds with Sherwin Vries fourth in 20,84 seconds. The race was won by Nigerian Uchenna Emedolu in a fast 20,61 seconds.
Middle-distance runner Johan Cronje also missed out when he occupied sixth spot in the 1 500m in 3:48,08. Alex Kipchirchir of Kenya won the slow race in 3:46,54. South African runners Juan van Deventer (3:50,60) and Johan Pretorius (3:50,07) also found the conditions very tough, finishing ninth and 10th.
Lebogang Phalula of South Africa had to settle for eighth in the 800m in a time of 2:10.
Marc Mundell was the pick of the South African walkers with a seventh spot in the 20km road event in 1:32:39, while Suzanne Erasmus crossed the finish in 1:51:45, finishing eighth.
The South African men’s 4x400m relay quartet won the silver medal after being defeated by Kenya (3:06,78). The South Africans recorded 3:07,65. — Sapa