Canada's Andre De Grasse crosses the finish line ahead of China's Chen Jiapeng and South Africa's Akani Simbine in the men's 4x100m relay final at the Paris Olympics on Friday Canada's Andre De Grasse crosses the finish line ahead of China's Chen Jiapeng and South Africa's Akani Simbine in the men's 4x100m relay final at the Paris Olympics on Friday. Photo: Jewel Samad/AFP
Akani Simbine finally has an Olympic medal.
The 30-year-old Simbine ran the final leg as South Africa finished behind Canada to win the silver medal in the men’s 4x100m relay final on Friday.
Having narrowly missed out on a medal on numerous occasions in the past, Simbine left it all on the track as he took South Africa home.
Schoolboy Bayanda Walaza was first up, and did well to keep up with the more experienced runners.
After the second and third leg by Shaun Maswanganyi and Bradley Nkoana, Simbine, like he did in the heats, passed a number of runners to secure the silver medal.
The medal was South Africa’s fifth in Paris. The team have won one gold, two silver and two bronze medals with one day of the games remaining.
The South African men’s 4x400m relay team kicked off the day brilliantly as they advanced to the final despite finishing last in their heat.
Featuring a strong team, the South Africns went into the race confident of advancing, but everything went pear-shaped when Antonie Nortje was tripped up in the third leg of the race.
🏃♂️ 𝕄![CDATA[]]>𝔼ℕ'𝕊 𝟜![CDATA[]]>𝕏![CDATA[]]>𝟜![CDATA[]]>𝟘![CDATA[]]>𝟘 🏃♂️#TeamSA 🇿![CDATA[]]>🇦 has qualified for the Men's 4x400m Final#ForMyCountry #Olympics pic.twitter.com/M71uWzOoAq
— Team South Africa (@OfficialTeamRSA) August 9, 2024
As a result of Nortje’s fall, South Africa finished dead last, but were handed a reprieve when Nigeria were disqualified for stepping on the line.
In the men’s 800m semi-final, Team SA’s Edmund du Plessis narrowly missed out on the “small q” as his time of 1:45.34 was not fast enough to see him advance as one of the non-automatic qualifiers.
The semi-final of women’s 100m hurdles was also the end of the road for South Africa’s Marione Fourie, who finished in sixth place in a time of 13.01.
In rowing, the Team SA duo of Hamish Lovemore and Dusi king Andrew Birkett fell short of advancing to Final A after finishing sixth in their men’s kayak double 500m semi-final.
The two qualified for Final B, where they placed fourth overall in a time of 1:31.79.
🌊 𝕎![CDATA[]]>𝕆![CDATA[]]>𝕄![CDATA[]]>𝔼ℕ'𝕊 𝔻![CDATA[]]>𝕀![CDATA[]]>𝕍![CDATA[]]>𝕀ℕ𝔾 🌊
— Team South Africa (@OfficialTeamRSA) August 9, 2024
Julia Vincent placed 11th with a score of 271.25 points in the Women's 3m Springboard Final. 💪![CDATA[]]>🏼![CDATA[]]>🇿![CDATA[]]>🇦#TeamSA #ForMyCountry #Olympics pic.twitter.com/66PgSEvv66
In the women’s 3m springboard final, Team SA’s Julia Vincent ended with a total of 271.25 points to finish in 11th place.
IOL Sport