SA finish third overall in Benin
Charlene Potgieter and the men’s 4x400m relay team won silver on the final day of the Africa Senior Championships in Benin, helping team South Africa finish third overall behind Nigeria and Kenya.
South Africa will come home with 24 medals (6 gold, 10 silver and 8 bronze). This is an improvement on the country's performance at the 2010 Championships in Kenya where the team won 19 medals.
Potgieter led the women’s triple jump from the start with an opener of 13.44m and improved her lead with a leap of 13.80m in the second round, equalling her personal best (set in Tampere, Finland on 10 June).
The 26 year-old maintained her lead with a 13.81m jump (with a backwind of 2.4 m/sec) in the third round, but dropped to second spot when Sarah Nambawa (UGA) posted a fourth-round leap of 13.86m. Potgieter’s fourth-round attempt delivered a foul.
The fifth round saw jumps measuring 13.90m by both Nambawa and Potgieter (with a tailwind of 2.3m/sec and 3.1m/sec respectively), and with both athletes failing to get a result in the final round, the Ugandan took gold on countback.
SA triple jump champion Patience Ntshingila finished seventh with 13.18m, jumped in the opening round.
The other medal of the day came from the men’s 4x400m relay team consisting of PC Beneke, Ofentse Mogawane, Oscar Pistorius and Willie de Beer. The team clocked 3:04.01 finishing second behind Nigeria, who won in 3:02.39 with Kenya finishing third (3:04.12).
The team will arrive at OR Tambo International airport at 6:10pm on Monday, on flight SA83.
SA MEDALLISTS:
Gold
Burger Lambrechts, men’s shot put. Winning distance: 19.51m
Simon Magakwe, men’s 100m. Winning time 10.29sec
Victor Hogan men’s discus throw, 61.08m
Men’s 4x100m relay team 39.26sec (39.26sec)
Chris Harmse men’s hammer throw, 77.22m
Lehann Fourie men’s 110m hurdles, 13.60sec
Silver
Orazio Cremona men’s shot put
Zarck Visser, Men’s long jump. Winning distance 7.98m
Oscar Pistorius men’s 400m, 45.52sec
Juanita Stander women’s pole vault. 3.50m
Elizna Naude, women’s discus throw. 55.88
Janice Josephs women’s long jump 6.29m
Anika Smith women’s high jump 1.86m
Justine Robbeson women’s javelin throw, 52.81m
Charlene Potgieter women’s triple jump, 13.90m
Men’s 4x400m relay team, 3:04.01 (PC Beneke, Ofentse Mogawane, Oscar Pistorius, Willem de Beer)
Bronze
Andre Olivier, men’s 800m Olympic Qualifier, 1:45.09
Jeannie van Dyk women’s pole vault, 3.40m
Russel Tucker men’s discus thorow, 57.99m
Willie de Beer men’s 400m, 445.67sec
Ruan van Wyk men’s pole vault, 4.90m
Lynique Prinsloo women’s long jump, 6.22m
Gerlize de Klerk women’s javelin throw, 49.85m
Bianca Erwee women’s heptathlon.
