A jubilant South African athletics team arrived home on Tuesday from the 15th African Athletics Championships in Mauritius where they retained their number-one spot in Africa and increased their medals tally, against a stronger field, compared with Brazzaville two years ago.
The youthful team, half of whom were competing in international competition for only the first or second time, won 10 gold medals, 12 silver and five bronze in difficult, windy conditions.
The female athletes won six of the gold medals, with outstanding performances from Janice Josephs, in the heptathlon, and rookie Rene van der Merwe, who took gold in her first international competition for high jump.
Justine Robbeson (javelin), Elizna Naude (discus) and Janet Wienand (400m hurdles) won individual gold medals, while the 4x400m relay team of Amanda Kotze, Estie Wittstock, Heide Seyerling and Janet Wienand also came away victorious.
The two most seasoned male campaigners in the squad did not disappoint as Chris Harmse won gold in the hammer throw with a season’s best of 77,55m, setting a new Africa record. Okkert Brits won gold in the pole vault. LJ van Zyl beat his compatriot, training partner Alwyn Myburgh, to take gold in the 400m hurdles and Gerhardus Pienaar won gold for javelin throw.
Team manager Wilfred Daniels was proud of the athletes who overcame strong headwinds and other circumstances beyond their control to take top honours. Pole-vault athletes had to compete with borrowed poles because their own equipment was still sitting in Johannesburg as airline baggage handlers failed to load the equipment on to their flight.
The management team tried everything possible to get the equipment to Mauritius in time but, in the end, the athletes had to settle for borrowed poles. However, this did not deter their enthusiasm or their success.
Daniels said the results in Mauritius have boosted the confidence of the team and will stand them in good stead for the IAAF World Cup in Athens next month, where all the gold medallists are assured of a place in the Africa team. — Sapa