Really proud to make history for SA, says Vincent

Ashfak Mohamed

AN emotional Julia Vincent said that her Paris Games experience was still a “dream come true” after putting in a valiant effort in her first Olympic diving final yesterday.

Despite being in medal contention at one stage, Vincent, who will celebrate her 30th birthday next Tuesday, had to be satisfied with 11th position in the women’s 3m springboard diving final at the Paris Aquatics Centre yesterday.

Vincent, who said earlier this week that she will be retiring after the Paris Olympics, produced two superb dives to move into third place after the first three rounds as she made history as the first South African to reach a diving final.

She pulled out a back 2½ somersault in round two, which earned her 67.50 points and ranked her third in the round and fourth overall.

Vincent followed it up with a reverse 2½ somersault that earned 66.00 points and also ranked her third in the round, but she also moved up to third place overall.

But a forward 3½ somersault, as well as a forward 2½ somersault and 1 twist in her last two rounds pushed her down to 11th overall on 271.25 points – a significant improvement on her two previous Olympics, where she ended 29th (220.30) at Rio 2016 and 25th (228.90) at Tokyo 2021.

“I started off great... sorry,” a teary-eyed Vincent, who hails from Johannesburg and has a master’s degree in public health from the University of South Carolina, and is now based in Lexington, Kentucky, said on Women’s Day in a Team SA video afterwards.

“I’m actually really happy! Obviously that didn’t go the way I wanted it to... It’s been a lot of hours and a lot of – just so much has gone into this Olympics, so I feel really proud to have made history for my country.

“But I obviously wanted today to go better.

“I’ve got a pretty strong opinion on retiring after this. But I cannot predict the future... Who knows, I might come back. I have a fire inside of me – I always will, I think.

“I’m not satisfied with today, even though I feel proud. So, who knows? I don’t know what the future holds, but I might, maybe (make a comeback)...

“I feel really proud, and I hope that me doing this can inspire other kids from South Africa to know that you can really do anything you put your mind to.

“It doesn’t matter where you come from or what you have – just do the best with what you have, and you can get yourself onto this stage too.

🌊 𝕎𝕆𝕄𝔼ℕ'𝕊 𝔻𝕀𝕍𝕀ℕ𝔾 🌊

Julia Vincent placed 11th with a score of 271.25 points in the Women's 3m Springboard Final. 💪🏼🇿🇦#TeamSA #ForMyCountry #Olympics pic.twitter.com/66PgSEvv66

— Team South Africa (@OfficialTeamRSA) August 9, 2024

“I think that is a dream come true. It may not have gone the way I wanted, but the dream come true for me is showing that it is possible to be just little Jules from South Africa and do something big.”

Yiwen Chen of China claimed the gold medal with 376.00 points, followed by Australian Maddison Keeney with 343.10 in second, while China’s Yani Chang grabbed the bronze medal with 318.75 points.

In the women’s golf tournament, Ashleigh Buhai kept the South African flag flying high at Le Golf National in Paris despite a difficult third round.

After ending the first round in second place with an excellent four-under-par 68 on Wednesday, Buhai shot one-over 73 in the second round to be tied for sixth place.

But the 35-year-old from Johannesburg carded a two-over 74 yesterday to drop down to tied-17th on one-under-par, eight shots behind joint-leaders Lydia Ko (68) of New Zealand and Switzerland’s Morgane Metraux (71).

Buhai started off well enough with five pars and a birdie on the par-four sixth hole, but she soon gave that advantage back with a bogey on the par-three eighth to be level-par on the front nine.

There was trouble on the back nine, though, as Buhai suffered bogeys on the 10th, 13th and 16th holes.

But the South African star at least gained some ground with a birdie on the par-five 18th to finish on one-under, and she will hope to make an early charge in today’s final round to push for a podium place.

The second SA golfer, Paula Reto, recorded a four-over-par 76 yesterday to be joint-49th on 11-over.

In the men’s kayak double semi-finals yesterday, South African pair Hamish Lovemore and Andrew Birkett just missed out on a place in the medal round after finishing in sixth position.

At the halfway mark, they were 1.24 seconds behind Hungarian leaders Bence Nadas and Sandor Totka as they chased a top-four finish to reach the A final.

🇿🇦 Team SA's Hamish Lovemore and Andrew James Birkett secured 6th place in the Men’s Kayak Double 500m Semi-Final, earning their spot in the B-Final!#TeamSA #ForMyCountry #Olympics pic.twitter.com/DYVzxt1XFe

— Team South Africa (@OfficialTeamRSA) August 9, 2024

But the SA duo fell short by just 0.19 seconds of fourth place, clocking 1:29.70, trailing US pair Jonas Ecker and Aaron Small, who finished in 1:29.51, while Germans Jacob Schopf and Max Lemke took the honours in 1:28.13.

Lovemore and Birkett then went on to claim fourth spot in the B final in 1:31.79 to finish 12th overall.

Schopf and Lemke grabbed gold in the A final with a 1:26.87 effort – just 0.02 outside the Olympic best of 1:26.85, set by Australians Jean van der Westhuyzen and Tom Green in yesterday’s semi-finals.