Cape Town - Take a look at the 10 most memorable moments of TeamSA at the Olympic Games 2016...
1. Wayde’s world record
Running blind in lane eight is considered the worst spot on the track, but if anything, it made Wayde van Niekerk push harder to make sure none of his competitors came creeping into his peripheral vision. His astonishing run carried him straight into the history books when he smashed through Michael Johnson’s 17-year-old record time. Johnson seemed delighted.
“That was a massacre from Wayde van Niekerk,” he said. “He just put those guys away.”
2. Caster - even faster
Women’s 800m champ Caster Semenya was subject to more scrutiny than any other athlete at the Olympics. After all the controversy, watching her tear up the track and claim her gold medal seemed like a triumph not only over her competitors, but over all her vicious detractors. She sliced two seconds off the time that won her silver at the London Olympics in 2012, in a performance that she dubbed #UnlimitedCobra.
3. Usain Bolt’s priceless priorities
The legendary sprinter interrupted a television interview to go into the stands and congratulate Wayde van Niekerk on his win and time of 43.03 seconds. While training in Jamaica, Bolt had reportedly told a disbelieving Wayde that he was capable of breaking the world record. After the race, Bolt delivered an extremely satisfying “I told you so”.
4. Competing after cancer
Rowing teammates Lawrence Brittain and Shaun Keeling won a silver medal in the men’s pairs, and they didn’t only beat the competition. Eighteen months earlier, Brittain had received his last dose of chemotherapy after a battle with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He not only crushed cancer, but recovered well enough to claim his place on the Olympic podium.
5. Luvo’s excruciating almost-gold
Western Cape long jumper Luvo Manyonga wasn’t really on anybody’s radar going into the event, because he had competed in so few international meets – mostly thanks to a drug-related ban. When he took the lead with his fourth jump, jaws dropped around the world. By his fifth jump, he was comfortably in gold position. He bailed on his last jump, and American Jeff Henderson pipped him to first place by 1cm, but it was still a massive symbolic victory for the young athlete.
6. Schoeman’s surprise bronze
Henri Schoeman looked even more surprised than we were when he crossed the finish line of the men’s triathlon in third position. His hands went to his head in utter disbelief and he looked back over his shoulder to check that fellow South African Richard Murray, a favourite for the race, was really behind him.
7. The Chad vs Michael showdown
The rivalry between Chad le Clos and swimming icon Michael Phelps is legendary. So when Le Clos was caught on camera shadow boxing in front of Phelps before a race, it was instant internet gold. As it turned out, Le Clos bit off more than he could chew and Phelps beat him in the pool, but not before Twitter made a meal of the American’s surly glare.
8. Sunette needs one throw only
Sunette Viljoen shot into the final of the women’s javelin with just one spectacular throw. She cleared the 63m mark in her first attempt, which meant she qualified automatically for the final. There, Sunette unleashed an even bigger throw to win the silver medal.
9. Blitzboks battle for bronze
If anything could take the edge off the Blitzboks’ semi-final defeat at the hands of Great Britain, it was the team’s 54-14 victory over Japan for the bronze-medal position. It also helped that Fiji proceeded to wallop Great Britain 43-7 in the final.
10. Caster reminds us what Olympic spirit about
As a gold-medal winner, Caster was obliged to give a rare press conference. She took the opportunity to give everyone a schooling about what Olympic spirit is really made of.
“It’s all about loving one another,” she said. “It is not about discriminating (against) people and looking at people in terms of how they look, how they speak and how they have run. It’s not about being masculine. It’s about sports. When you leave your apartment you don’t want to look at what you look like. You just want to do better. The message to people out there is to have fun and see what you can achieve. That’s what I want to say.”
IOL