Sunette Viljoen is the silver queen of South Africa!
Heartbreak of four years ago was turned to glory at the Olympic Stadium on for javelin ace Viljoen as she claimed Team South Africa’s ninth medal of the Rio Games by finishing in second position in the javelin final.
. @Sunette_Viljoen beaming at the sight of long-time coach Terseus Liebenberg. #IOLYMPICS pic.twitter.com/PbM6yifpnQ
The 32-year-old’s best throw of the night came right up front with her first attempt as she hurled the javelin all of 64.92m to take the lead immediately.
Viljoen’s second throw (61.04m) wasn’t close to her best, and it was unfortunate that she committed a foul with her third attempt.
That meant she only had three more throws to go further, but she held on to the lead until the fourth round, when unheralded 21-year-old Croatian Sara Kolak came up with an unbelievable 66.18m, which was a new national record.
@Sunette_Viljoen got SILVER @caster800m qualifies for the FINALS
Team SA hoisting our flag 🇿🇦 pic.twitter.com/6v76XlRNan
— RSA Min of Sport (@MbalulaFikile) August 19, 2016
Kolak’s only previous big-stage performance came at the European Championships earlier this year, where she claimed a bronze medal.
The likes of defending champion Barbora Spotakova of Czech Republic (64.80m for the bronze medal), German Christina Obergfoll (eighth with 62.92m) and new Polish sensation Maria Andrejczyk (fourth with 64.78m) couldn’t challenge the top two with their final throws.
Javelin: Sunette Viljoen takes SILVER, brilliant effort, another medal, congratulations Sunette #teamSArise
— TeamSouthAfrica (@teamsa16) August 19, 2016
Kolak didn’t even reach 60m with her final attempt, and it gave Viljoen one last chance to grab gold with the final throw of the competition. But things didn’t work out for the South African, who fell to the ground after launching her javelin and put her hand over the line to register a foul as she realised it won’t be enough.
Viljoen, though, will be delighted with her efforts after finishing in an agonising fourth place at the 2012 London Olympics, and the silver medal comes after she won bronze at last year’s world championships in Beijing.
The silver medal capped off an excellent day of competition for Team South Africa after Henri Schoeman claimed a bronze medal in the triathlon, while Caster
Women's javelin throw final - @Sunette_Viljoen #LetsGoRio2016 https://t.co/MgU47QCdGx
— SABC Sport (@SPORTATSABC) August 19, 2016
Semenya breezed through her 800m semi-final to book a place in Saturday night’s final (Sunday 2.15am SA time).