Godfrey Khotso Mokoena, South Africa’s best long and triple jumper of all time, gave himself a fine 22nd birthday present in Valencia on Saturday when he won South Africa’s third-ever gold medal at the IAAF World Indoor Championships with a jump of 8,08m.
The tall former world junior champion celebrated his birthday two days ago. He was a model of consistency with five of his jumps over 8m.
It was a tight affair between him and Britain’s Chris Tomlinson, who led the competition from the word go with an 8,06m jump.
Mokoena opened with 8,05m and followed with jumps of 8,01m and 8.03m twice, until the fifth round when he produced his winning effort of 8,08m. Tomlinson could not match that and had to settle for silver. — Sapa