NO PRESSURE: SA ace Wayde van Niekerk, left
South Africans will be glued to their TV sets tonight, with Mzanzi’s golden boy and 400m record holder Wayde van Niekerk opening his bid for a second Olympic gold medal.
A winner in the 400m in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Van Niekerk, 32, is not taking part in the one-lap race, but is instead chancing his arm in the 200m and will be in action in Heat 1 tonight at 7.55pm.
Benjamin Richardson will run in Heat 3 at 8.09pm, with Shaun Maswanganyi running in Heat 5 at 8.23pm.
While this will be Van Niekerk’s only event at the Games after withdrawing from the 400m, both Richardson and Maswanganyi went for gold in last night’s 100m semis.
While doing their best, they just missed on on the finals. SA’s big 100m hope ultimately rested on Akani Simbine, he also just missed out on scoring a medal.
Despite finishing fourth for a second successive Olympics in the men’s 100m, South Africa’s Akani Simbine was proud of his performance in Paris on Sunday.
Though the 30-year-old did not manage a podium position at the Paris Olympics, there was no faulting his performance as he improved his own South African record to 9.82 seconds - which he had set three years ago.
In fact, it was the third Olympic final in a row for Simbine.
🇿🇦 Akani Simbine set a new national record in the men's 100m final with a time of 9.82, finishing 4th! 🏃🔥 #TeamSA #ForMyCountry #OlympicGames pic.twitter.com/khgb21IReO
— Team South Africa (@OfficialTeamRSA) August 4, 2024
Prudence Sekgodiso, meanwhile, also went all out for South Africa in the women’s 800m semis last night.
Also on the track today is Miranda Coetzee, who runs in Heat 6 of the Women’s 400m at 12.35pm, while on the field Francois Prinsloo and Victor Hogan are in discuss action at 10.10am and 11.35am respectively.
Final Bound!!! 🚀
— Team South Africa (@OfficialTeamRSA) August 4, 2024
Prudence Sekgodiso advances to the final with a time of 1:57.5#TeamSA #ForMyCountry #Olympic pic.twitter.com/QrqoHYcwsk
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