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Team SA it’s Rio – 15 Aug 2016

August 16, 2016 Published by: Cresi Heslop

15 AUGUST 2016

Ex champ Malherbe on Wayde’s win… and the way forward
By Mark Etheridge

Former South African 400-metre champion and national record holder Arnaud Malherbe says that once again his expectations of new world record holder and now Olympic champion Wayde van Niekerk continue being blown out of the water!
It seems a long time ago now that Malherbe motored to his personal best of 44.59sec in Roodepoort back in 1999. And indeed in terms of athletics progression, the 43.03 that Van Niekerk ran in Rio on Sunday is light years apart.
Malherbe, who is serving in an expert early-morning commentary capacity on television back home in South Africa, took time out to sum up the magnitude of Van Niekerk’s Olympic moment.
‘Well, we wondered if No 8 would be a good or bad lane but I didn’t think it would bother him too much be because he paced so well at World Championships in Beijing and listened exactly to what his coach had said. I knew he could do it and the other benefit was that Kirani James was only two lanes inside him so at least if James started fast then Wayde wouldn’t have to wait until only 100m to run before he saw his main rivals!
The humblest hero
By Gary Lemke

Looking at her tiny baby born prematurely at 28 weeks and weighing in at less than a kilogram, Odessa Swarts feared the worst. She was still only 18 when she arrived at the state-funded Tygerburg Hospital in Cape Town on 15 July 1992. She was told to prepare herself as doctors gave her new-born a blood transfusion and with a medical prediction of less than 24 hours to live.
Today Odessa, a star athlete in her own right during South Africa’s apartheid years, is the proudest mother in the world, and her 24 year-old son is the biggest property in athletics. Period. And on Monday, the day after he had done the unimaginable and won Olympic gold from the extreme outside lane eight, and not only won, but broken the great Michael Johnson’s world record that had stood since 1999, Van Niekerk was still trying to take everything in.
‘I actually had no strategy, I just let God just take over,’ he said reflecting on that 43.03sec effort which carved a huge 0.15 seconds off the record the experts said could only be broken by Usain Bolt. Van Niekerk had come to Rio as the world champion from last year and carried huge gold medal hopes for Team South Africa. After a semi-final that saw him placed in lane eight, well away from the likes of Kirani James and LaShawn Merritt, the whispers grew. He can win gold, was the feeling, but everything would have to go right for him. Consensus was that, from lane eight, he’d have to go like a bullet leaving a barrel and hope to hang on.

How Team SA fared on Monday
South Africa had competitors in four codes on Monday. Here is how they fared.

ATHLETICS
Women’s 200m, Heat three and four, Alyssa Conley was fourth in heat three of nine with a time of 23.17 (0.32sec outside her season’s best) and Justine Palframan ended fifth in a time of 23.33 in the next heat.

In a nutshell: Conley’s heat went to Caribbean athletes Michelle-Lee Ahye (Trinidad and Tobago) and Jamaica’s Simone Facey who grabbed the two automatic qualifying spots in 22.50 and 22.78. In Palframan’s race (she also ran the 400m qualifying heats two days ago), she also missed out on the automatic slots as current African Games champion Marie-Josee Ta Lou of Coite d’Ivoire won in 22.31 from newly crowned world 100m champion Elaine Thompson of Jamaica (23.63). Conley and Palframan were ranked 36th and 43rd respectively after the completion of the heats.To progress they would have had to run a 22.94 on Monday.

Men’s triple jump qualifying, Group B, Khotso Mokoena finished 10th in Group B with a best of 16.51m on the day.
In a nutshell: After opening with a 15.13 leap, the 2008 Olympic long jump silver medallist improved to a 16.51 and then had a final leap of 1 6.44. That left him in 21st spot overall. Automatic qualifying for the final was pegged at 16.95m or at least the 12 best performers. So Mokoena misses out and would have needed 10cm more on the day to go through.

Men’s 400m hurdles heats (four, five and six), Le Roux Hamman ended seventh in 49.72, Lindsay Hanekom was also seventh in 50.22 and LJ van Zyl was second in 49.22.
In a nutshell: Up and coming youngsters Hamman and Hanekom will live to fight another day as they missed out automatic qualification that went with ending in the top three of each heat. But two-time Olympic veteran LJ van Zyl lives to fight another day with a solid showing. With wife Irvette being ruled out of the marathon due to injury, Van Zyl will be looking to fly the Van Zyl family flag on her behalf. He goes into the semi-finals as 15th fastest qualifier. Jamaica’s Annsert Whyte leads the way with an impressive 48.37sec.

Men’s 110m hurdles, heat three: Antonio Alkana
In a nutshell: Alkana hit two of the three hurdles in his heat to finish fifth, but his 13.64 recorded sent him though as one of the fastest qualifiers as he placed 21^st overall. A total of 24 athletes went through to the next round.

MARATHON SWIMMING
Women’s 10km open water event, Michelle Weber ended 18th in the event swum off Copacabana in a time of 1hr 59min 05.0sec.
In a nutshell: Weber came into her debut Olympics after a strong performance at the final qualifying event in Setubal, Portugal two months ago where she placed sixth in a time of 1:55.49. On this occasion she was always slightly off that pace.

At the 2.5km, 5km and 7.5km markers she was ranked 15th, 16th and 17^th respectively and ended up being 2min 32.9sec off the pace as Netherlands swimmer Sharon van Rouwendaal splashed to gold. Weber will be back though. At just 19 she was one of just four teenagers in the field and will only get stronger in future.

Michelle Weber – Photo Credits Sean Laurenz

CANOEING
Women’s K1 200m, Heat Four, Bridgitte Hartley finished third in heat four with a time of 41.698sec to progress into the semi-finals. In a nutshell: Hartley made a point of saying on Sunday that this event is little more than a testing of the waters for her big event, the K1 500m sprint. ‘The starting blocks are always a bit different at every event so this is great to get a feel of what they’re like for later in the week.’ She told SASCOC President Gideon Sam ‘not to expect much’ but he’ll no doubt be happy to see her going into the next stages as the 12th fastest of 28 semi-finalists.
Source: Sascoc

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Photo Journey: Rio Olympic Park and Olympic Travel Tips

August 16, 2016 Published by: Cresi Heslop

Rio Olympics 2016 – Olympic Park Arenas

Okay so we arrived in Rio for our first Olympics with not much understanding of how the Olympic venues work across the city and how to coincide accommodation with venues and so on, but after 10 days here I have a much clearer view on things. Below is an image of the entire Olympic park where a lot of the sport happens. This massive Olympic Park is accessible via a very efficient and Olympics dedicated MetroRio (underground train system), from there via BRT (busses).

I must say that the efficiency, speed and security of the above was way beyond what I expected, keeping in mind that we commuted daily to the Olympic Park all the way from downtown Rio. This constituted a 2 hour trip to and from ( hence the sleep deprivation state of being 🙂 )

There was a heavy presence of Police, Army plus Bomb squad all around Rio. We being afoot all ours of the day and night, with the night games starting only at 10:00 PM, we arrived home around 2am and eventually put head down at 2:30 / 3:00 Am on those days. We never felt endangered at all!

Sport like soccer and beach volley ball would of course be hosted in a brilliant existing venues like the Maracana Football stadium or Copacabana Beach Front. Also note that the Athlete’s Village is not part to the Olympic Park – and is located separately and athletes arrive by VIP bus to their events at the Olympic Park. We did not have access to the athletes village and hence it is not on any images.

I will say this over and over again in this report back on the Rio Olympics:

You will walk and walk and walk, and footsore is the name of the game for supporters!
Forget fashion and wear a very good quality RUNNING SHOE!
It is a SUMMER OLYMPICS, pack lots of shorts, SA supporter tops, cool clothes and something for the rainy day here and there in between.
Zika was a terrible press hoax by all those who could not attend the games and tried to scare others off Rio! I did not see a single mosquito in 10 days!
Have something warmer for the night games and the Metro, because it gets freezing with the aircon in the Metro.
Have enough SA supporter gear, there is no greater feeling than being Proudly South African in a foreign land!
Pack your silky stunning SA flag and a few extra flags, we ended up exchanging flags with other country supporters.
Pack the flag of another country that you support on the days that you are just a happy spectator and Team SA is not in the game – for us we supported Brazil on the off days.
Remember – the Spirit of the Olympics runs way deeper than you and your country and medals. Its is about learning, sharing, camaraderie and so much more!
ENJOY AND LOOK FORWARD TO TOKYO 2020!

Above – Rio Olympic Park 2016 – Full Layout

Above – Rio 2016 Olympic Park – Main Tennis Stadium in Orange and Yellow, more beautiful by night even with lit up!

Rio Olympic Park 2016 – Arenas 1, 2 & 3

Rio Olympic Park 2016 – Aquatics Stadium

Rio Olympic Park 2016 by Day

Rio Olympic Park 2016 by Night

Home Olympics 2016 Rio Sports

Team SA it’s Rio – 14 Aug 2016

August 15, 2016 Published by: Cresi Heslop

14 AUGUST 2016
Wayde blitzes to new world record and grabs SA’s first gold in Rio
By Mark Etheridge

Ten days ago he waved the flag for Team South Africa as the world looked on at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Rio. Sunday saw Wayde van Niekerk ruling the world as he raced to gold in the 400-metre track event, earning South Africa’s first track gold medal since re-admission to world sport back in 1992.
In imperious form from gun to line, Van Niekerk was never headed as he also obliterated United States superstar Michael Johnson’s 17-year-old record of 43.18 seconds with a time of 43.03.
The victory earned Team SA their first gold of the Games to go with their five silvers and bronze and with just under a week to go to add even more medals to that.
Winning gold meant South Africa jumped from 41 st to 21 st on the medals table. Speaking afterwards Van Niekerk was still shell-shocked. ‘I’d love to tell you guys more but I honestly can’t remember the race, I’ll have to go back and watch it on television,’ he smiled bemusedly. ‘All I know is that I left it all out there tonight. I left it in God’s hands here at a challenging Olympics. ‘I ran blind the whole race, I still don’t know what happened out there but it was just so awesome to be here and inspired by guys like Usain Bolt, Michael Johnson, and tonight guys who I ran against like Kirani James and LaShawn Merritt.
‘I struggled with a few niggles and nerves here but I had my whole family here to share this opportunity. ‘What I can remember is that I thought someone would catch me, it was quite lonely out there and thought “what’s going on?” but I kept on pushing and even dived a bit for the finish line. ‘In terms of strategy it was just to go and do my best. I just went for it. When I saw the time I was really amazed. I went out there for any medal tonight.. just wanted top three, I got that, a world record, lifetime best.. wow.
‘The demons didn’t catch me’ – Manyonga
By Gary Lemke
It was the afternoon after the night before and as Luvo Manyonga, the feel good South African story of these Olympic Games so far, sat next to the country’s sporting dignitaries, he allowed himself to reflect.
It was a reflection not only on Saturday night in the Olympic stadium, where a final leap of 8.37m seemed to have been enough to win the country’s first gold medal in Rio, until it was snatched away from him by one centimetre, by Jeff Henderson of the United States. Such are the small margins in sport, as in life itself.
‘I didn’t really sleep, I’m still on SA time,’ a beaming Manyonga told the media in the athletes village, flanked by the Minister of Sport Fikile Mbalula, SASCOC chief executive and chef de mission in Rio, Tubby Reddy, and SASCOC president Gideon Sam.
Manyonga’s story has been well documented, but for those who don’t know, here:

it is in a nutshell: The 25-year-old from Mbekweni township outside Paarl in the Western Cape, has always been a prodigious talent. He won gold at the 2010 World Junior Championships in Canada and looked to have the world at his feet. However, like many teenagers (he was 19) he fell victim to the daily pitfalls of township life and was dragged down. His life quickly spiralled in the wrong direction and he was dragged into the dark world of recreational drugs. Not only did he serve an 18-month ban but also his coach, Mario Smith, was killed in a car accident in 2014. There is more to tell, but that for the young man to reveal in his own time and on his own terms.

How Team SA fared on Sunday
South Africa had competitors in action across three sporting codes on Sunday. Here’s a list of competitors and times of competition, local time (SA time in brackets).

GOLF
Men’s final round: Brandon Stone carded a final round four-over 75 for a tally of 293. He had rounds of 75, 72, 71 and 75 and was tied 55th. Jaco van Zyl was tied for 43rd with a final score of 286 and rounds of 71, 74, 70 and 71.

ATHLETICS
Women’s marathon: Dina Lebo Phalula finished 63rd in a time of 2hr 41min 46sec, Christine Kalmer ended in 96th position with a time of 2:48:24. Irvette van Zyl was injured and did not participate in the race.
In a nutshell: Phalula was 76:58 at halfway in 64th position so in terms of positioning she was extremely consistent. She ended up 17:42 behind Kenyan winner Jemima Sumgong. Kalmer, whose sister Rene ran the last Olympic Marathon in London four years ago, ended 24:20 off the winning time. She went through halfway in 1:18:18 (80th position.).
What they said: (Phalula) It was a good experience being my first Olympics. In the end it was just to get to the finish line. Conditions were so hot but I couldn’t be a spectator. If you’re not there at the finish line you’re not an Olympian. I was just running, with no watch, I just hung in there and wanted to get to the finish.’

(Kalmer) ‘I was disappointed. I had a good start and then tried to slow down but then I ended in no man’s land. I would have really been happy with a time of 2:38. I tried hard to latch on to people but never really managed to. The scenery was really beautiful but now I just need a break, the build up of more than a year was a long time.’

Men’s 100m semi-final, Akani Simbine ended third in a time of 9.98 in the first of three semi-finals, behind France’s Jimmy Vicault (9.95) and Ben Yousef Meite of Coite d’Ivoire (9.97). Olympic champion and world recordholder Usain Bolt led the way into the final with a 9.86 season’s best.

Men’s 400m final: Wayde van Niekerk obliterated the world record with a barnstorming run of 43.03 seconds to add to his 2014 Commonwealth Games silver and World Championships gold medal of last year. Previous best was Michael American Johnson’s 43.18 in Seville 17 years ago. 10.25pm (3.25am), Men’s 100m final, Simbine went on to finish fifth in 9.94 as
Usain Bolt defended his Olympic title with a win in a season’s best 9.81sec

SAILING
Men’s 470 class, races seven, eight and nine, Asenathi Jim and Roger Hudson finished 18th and 11th respectively with race nine having to be rescheduled.
Source: Sascoc

Olympics 2016 Rio Proudly South African Sports

Team SA it’s Rio – 13 Aug 2016

August 14, 2016 Published by: Cresi Heslop

13 AUGUST 2016

Manyonga is Team SA’s man of the moment with a memorable silver
By Mark Etheridge
One tiny centimetre stood between Team South Africa’s first gold medal at these 2016 Olympic Games after long jumper Luvo Manyonga leapt to the rainbow nation’s fourth silver on Saturday night. Until now, swimming (three) and rowing (one) have brought silverware to the medals table while sevens rugby served up a bronze.

And for a few yawning minutes Manyonga’s sixth and final leap of 8.37 metres seemed to have broken the gold drought. Almost too scared to watch, Manyonga lay flat on his back gazing up into the Rio night as he dared to dream of gold.
And then it all came down to earth again as American Jeff Henderson turned South Africa’s golden hopes into silver with a final jump of his own that saw him launch himself 8.38m into the sandpit and seal the gold.

How Team SA fared on Saturday
Team SA had action in three codes on Saturday. Here is how they fared (times are Rio local and in brackets SA time). South Africa started the day with five medals.

ATHLETICS
Women’s 400m heats: Tsholofelo Thipe finished fourth in heat three with a time of 52.80 and Justine Palframan seventh in heat four with a 53.96.
In a nutshell: Thipe went off in lane seven with a season’s best 51.96 season’s best to her name. Running against American superstar Allyson Felix, Thipe quite literally stumbled over the line as the chasers hauled her in. Only the first two in each eight heats gained automatic qualification. Palframan went off hard but, like Thipe, didn’t have much left in the tank and trailed in last.
What they said: (Thipe) ‘I’m very disappointed with my race. I knew I was in a race with good people who could take me to a good time and a top two placing. I watched myself on the big screen for most of the race and knew they were coming at the end. I really wanted to be in the top three so that’s why I had to dive for that line.’ (Palframan) ‘Yes I’m disappointed in my time because my training has been going very well. The crowds were amazing, especially for a morning heat! The lane draw wasn’t great but you take what you get and lane eight is better than lane one! I went out pretty quickly and then when they caught me I couldn’t pull away again. The goal was to get out in front and then kick again at the end but obviously the kick wasn’t there at the end.’

Men’s 100m heats: Henricho Bruintjies ended sixth in heat six (10.33), Akani Simbine won heat eight in 10.14.
In a nutshell: For Bruintjies there was heartbreak but Simbine soared into the semi-finals. Bruintjies didn’t look bad in the early stages but in the final few metres a few opponents flew past him and with only first and second place guaranteed semi-final slots it was never going to be enough. Simbine looked impressive with a good start and controlled his heat from start to finish and looked to have plenty in the tank for Sunday’s semi-finals and, dare we dream, a final. Simbine ended as joint 13th and Bruintjies 44th of 69 finishers in the summary of the heats.
What they said: (Bruintjies) ‘No excuses, just a bad day at the office, although I did lose focus between the warm-up and the race. There were about 40min between the two and I lost focus, normally they have blocks and stuff. It feels like a fast track though, the atmosphere and crowd were great, the weather was warm which we need for good sprinting but it was just a bad day for me.’ (Simbine) ‘It was a good opener for me but I know if I can get my start sharper and out of the blocks a bit quicker then I know it’ll come together for me. I didn’t watch the big screen or anything, just the guys around me. The plan was for me to get out there and make it my race, control it. It’s good that first race (always the worst race) is
not out of the way and behind me. Now I can go and go forward. The atmosphere is amazing out there. I got quite a few shouts of my name which I used for confidence. I know I can get out of the blocks quicker and I know I need to get out in the semis’.

Men’s 400m semi-finals, Wayde van Niekerk ended second in the second of three semi-finals with a time of 44.45sec to qualify for Sunday night’s final.
In a nutshell: Van Niekerk looked a lot more relaxed than Friday’s heats. He got out strongly and had the luxury of being able to coast home in second as Trinidad and Tobago’s Machel Cedonio won in 44.39. The first two in each heat make the final automatically. On this occasion, Van Niekerk could afford to settle for second best. The first semi saw Olympic champion Kirani James head off LaShawn Merritt with times of 44.02 and 44.21.
What he said: ‘I felt very comfortable, very relaxed and got to open up way more than yesterday. I’m not concerned at who reaches the final, Kirani James, La Shawn Merritt, and all their accomplishments speak for themselves. I’m just grateful to be in the race with them and to be able to go out and challenge them.
It’s just one more big push in the final and then the Olympics are done. I’m not worried about the lane draw, we’re all running 400m. As for pressure? No pressure at all. I just need to get back and have a good rest so I’m ready for tomorrow.’

Women’s 100m semi-finals, Carina Horn ended seventh in the third and final semi-final in a time of 11.20 and failed to progress.
In a nutshell: Horn was always going to be up against with the likes of Elaine Thompson and English Gardner in her heat and just two places guaranteed of final participation. And so it proved to be as the Jamaican and US duo ran times of 10.88 and 10.90 respectively. She would have had to go some just to make the final as the slowest qualifier was a 10.96 – 0.10sec than any South African women has ever run.
What she said: ‘I run against these girls so often but wow, this is just something completely different, a total new vibe. No excuses but I’ve had a bit of flu and a right hamstring problem but in all reality I would have had to break an SA record to get into the final here. Now I’ve still got a few races left this season and we’ll take it from there.’

Men’s long jump final: Luvo Manyonga won silver with a jump of 8.37m and Ruswahl Samaai was ninth with 7.97m.
In a nutshell: They went into the final and both broke the psychological eightmetre barrier and with long jump, it sounds silly, but anything can happen on the day, with rhythm being a key factor. On this occasion it was Manyonga who stepped up to the plate with a silver that was just a centimetre from being gold. He had put the pressure on the field with a leap of 8.28 on his fourth attempt. Samaai disappointed on the night but with a personal best of 8.38 still under his belt that’s the same jump that won gold on Saturday. Read the story of Manyonga’s miracle elsewhere on the site.
What Samaai said: I’m just so happy for Luvo, he and Khotso Mokoena [silver medal in long jump at the 2008 Beijing Olympics] were the guys who opened the gates for us and he’s just an amazing talent.

Men’s 10,000m final, Stephen Mokoka ended 18th in a time of 27:54.57 as Mo Farah defended his Olympic title successfully.
In a nutshell: Mokoka was about six seconds off his season’s best of 27:48.84 and would have been happy to see that he’s not at all disgraced in a field of this calibre.
What he said: Mo is so strong in his mind and it’s his time… God gives you time and it’s his time. And I also ran under 28min at a major championship. If you come into a race here it always gets better. This was my best race of my life. My aim was to run a little faster but this time they were here, only about 200m away from me when they finished. Conditions were tough but everyone went through them. Now I’ll rest a bit and then prepare for a marathon later in the year. It was good to come here and get some speed for that.

Men’s 800m semi-finals, Rynardt van Rensburg ended fifth in the second of two semi-finals in a time of 1:45.33
What to expect: Van Rensburg ran a season’s best 1:45.67 to get out of the heats and went even better in the semi-final stage, notching a season’s best time. It wasn’t enough to pull him through but a season’s best followed by a personal best will see him leaving his first Olympics with a spring in his step.
What he said: ‘To run my best time in the Olympic semis, I just can’t be sad, or expect more hey? The biggest lesson I’ve learnt here is that these guys are also human with two arms and two legs. With the correct mindset and hard work you can run with them. If you want to get the top you have to run with them. A few years ago these guys were my idols and now I’m running next to them. So I’ll continue dreaming big and not stop working hard. For now it’s maybe two or three races in Europe because I’m in good shape and then a rest and will start working hard for next year.

GOLF
Men’s third round: Jaco van Zyl shot a third round one-under 70, which included a hole-in-one at the eighth hole. He is tied for 39th after rounds of 71, 74 and 70 for two over 215. Brandon Stone is in 50th position after shooting a par 71 for five over 218 headed into the final round.

SAILING
1.05 (6.05pm) and four races after 1.15 (6.15pm): Men’s Laser, Race 9 and 10, Stefano Marcia

Source: Sascoc

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Team SA it’s Rio – 12 Aug 2016

August 13, 2016 Published by: Cresi Heslop

12 AUGUST 2016
Le Clos bounces back with silver

By Gary Lemke

Chad le Clos had told the world, ‘don’t judge me when I’m roaring like a lion, judge me when I’ve got my back against the wall’. Never before had the South African been so pinned against the wall than this week. It must have felt like someone had their forearm jammed against his throat, such was manner in which ‘only’ a fourth-place finish in his signature event, the 200m butterfly, had affected him. Especially in the wake of a widely broadcast perceived fallout with Michael Phelps.

And at the Olympic aquatic stadium on Friday, the South African responded like the champion he is. It wasn’t gold and it wasn’t bronze, but it was a second silver medal in the 100m butterfly that helped up South Africa’s medals tally to five at these Games. In a finish that the greatest swimmer of all time, Phelps, called ‘wild, really wild,’ Le Clos somehow managed to claw back from what looked for all money might be fourth place with a perfect lunge to the wall.
Phelps, who was winning the 27th Olympic medal of his career – 22 of them being gold – takes up the story. ‘I looked up and saw [my name] second, saw 51.1 and I thought “ok” and I looked over and I saw Chad come over, Laszlo [Cesh] come over, and I looked back at the scoreboard and I said, “oh my God, we’re all tied for second, a three-way tie”.’

How Team SA fared on Friday

There were five different codes being represented by South Africa on Friday. Here is a list of South Africans in competition. Times are Rio local and in brackets SA time. South Africa started the day with four medals.

ROWING

Women’s Lightweight Double Sculls, Final: Kirsten McCann and Ursula Grobler finished fifth in 7min 11.26sec.
In a nutshell: McCann and Grobler, confident after winning their semi-final, had been quietly fancied in the Team SA camp to medal. They tracked China through the first 500m and then stuck their noses in front approaching halfway, with China still right there and the Netherlands getting into contention. The Dutch were moving strongly and pulled ahead, with a blanket covering second, third and fourth, South Africa being right there. However, McCann and Grobler then hit the wall inside the last 200m and faded rapidly to finish fifth.
Results: Gold Netherlands 7:04.23, Silver Canada 7:05.88, Bronze China 7:06.49, 5 South Africa 7:11.26

Men’s Lightweight Double Sculls, Final: James Thompson and John Smith finished fourth in 6:33.29
In a nutshell: Thompson and Smith were part of the Four that won gold in 2012 they started relatively slowly and were as close-up fourth at 1000m and the pace didn’t let up from there in a brutal race. France led virtually from start to finish to hold on as Ireland grabbed second and Thomson and Smith were simply unable to make up the water and stayed in fourth.
Results: Gold France 6:30:70, Silver Ireland 6:31.23 Bronze Norway 6:32.29 4 South Africa 6:33.29

Women’s Pair, Final: Lee-Ann Persse and Kate Christowitz finished fifth in 7:28.50
In a nutshell: Persse and Christowitz had finished third behind Great Britain and the United States in their semi-final in the quicker of the two semis. They were drawn in lane sixth with Great Britain the form combination and heavy favourites.
South Africa were always tracking the leaders, Great Britain, and could make no impression as the boats ahead of them pulled ahead and Persse and Christowitz never managed to get a blow in.
Results: Gold Great Britain 7:18.29, Silver New Zealand 7:19.53, Bronze Denmark 7:20.71, 5 South Africa 7:28.50

Men’s Four, final, David Hunt, Jonathan Smith, Vincent Breet and Jake Green finished fourth in 6:05.80
In a nutshell: The Lightweight Men’s Four brought home gold from London 2012 and subsequently had a shake-up in personnel. They reached the final in a good manner, winning their repechage and then finishing second in their semi in 6:15.22 and showed they deserved to be there with a strong performance in the final.
Great Britain and Australia took the fight to the field and battled it out for gold and silver, but South Africa were always going well in lane two in third spot but they were just touched off inside the final 100m by a charging Italy.
Results: Gold Great Britain 5:58.61, Silver Australia 6:00.44 Bronze Italy 6:03.85, 4 South Africa 6:05.80

GOLF
Men’s second round: Jaco van Zyl double bogeyed the last hole to slip to a three-over 74 for the round and a 36-hole total of 145 (three over par). Brandon Stone added a one-over 72 to his first round 75 to be five-over on 147 after two rounds. Australia’s Marcus Fraser leads on 10-under, followed by Belgium’s Thomas Pieters on 9-under and Sweden’s Henrik Stenson on 8-under.

ATHLETICS
Men’s 800m heats: Rynardt van Rensburg finished second in 1:45.67 to qualify for the semi-finals, while Jacob Rozani finished fifth in his heat in 1:49.79.
In a nutshell: It’s only his first Olympics but Van Rensburg looked a seasoned pro as he eased his way into the semi-finals of the men’s 800-metre track event on Friday. Racing in heat three alongside Olympic champion David Rudisha, Van Rensburg was out of trouble as there was bumping and a near collision behind him. The bell ran at 52.36sec and the Bloemfontein athlete made sure he had space around him and hit the line second in 1min 45.67, a season’s best as Rudisha won in 1:45.09. It wasn’t as smooth sailing for SA champion Rozani two heats later as he could only manage fifth in 1:49.79 as Algerian Taoufik Makhloufi won a slow heat in 1:49.17. The field took the bell in a pedestrian 56.41 and Rozani was always near the back of the pack. In second last for most of the race, he moved up into fifth down the back straight but there was no evidence of any kick. Slowest time of the 16 direct qualifiers was a 1:46.65, three seconds quicker than Rozani who was 44th of 54 finishers in the seven heats. Shock of the heats was Botswana’s Olympic silver medallist Nijel Amos (1:50.46) going even slower than Rozani and being bounced out. ME

What they said:
Van Rensburg – ’I think I ran just about the perfect race and I can’t be happier. At the start of the season I had a few hiccups but just concentrated on the Olympics. I ran my season’s best and I’m in the shape of my life. Now I’m looking forward to the semis and I’m in shape when it counts. The plan was to be in front because most of these guys have a kick so sitting behind is looking for trouble. I sat behind David. He’s so classy that you just know his lane running will be quite smooth. I’m feeling very good and positive and after this I only something to gain and nothing to lose. Also, I thought that because it was morning heats the atmosphere would quiet but surprisingly there were a lot of people.’

Rozani: ‘I’m very disappointed. The plan was to place in the top three and go into the semis but my legs just didn’t have it today. The race was very tactical and slow, slow but I just didn’t have anything.’

Women’s 10,000m final: Dominique Scott-Efurd finished 21st in a time of 31:41.47
In a nutshell: Even if there’s scant chance of medalling in your event, producing a personal best is all your country can ask for. Team SA can consider Scott-Efurd’s run as ‘job done’. It was only her second race as a professional athlete and she beat her previous best (31:56.84) by five seconds. She was also privileged to be part of a brilliant world record run by Ethiopia’s Almaz Ayana who won in 29:17.46.
Such was the sheer quality of the field that the first 13 across the line ran either national records or personal bests.

What she said: ‘Wow, it’s a dream come true. Last night in bed I was quite emotional about all that it’s taken to get me here. It was a super fast race, just amazing and the crowd carried us through. It was hard to even remain focused but it was fun. I’d like to have gone quicker but I still ran a 5sec PR [personal record] so I can’t ask for much more and 21st in the world isn’t too shabby for a 24-year old from South Africa. As for my nerves, I was just excited today. I was nervous a few weeks ago but then realised it was my goal to make it here and today I just wanted to enjoy it and not let nerves take over and then not enjoy something I’ve worked towards for all my life. The race was pretty choppy in terms of pace. We’d get into a rhythm, then slow down and then get going again. The weather was awesome, a bit warm but I’ve trained in the heat of Arkansas. Oh today was just so much fun, so cool! I just hope I didn’t spoil Almaz’ photographs as she was lapping me just as she went across the finish line!’ ME

Men’s 20km walk final: Lebogang Shange ended 44th in a time of 1:25:07 and Wayne Snyman 58th in 1:29:20.
In a nutshell: One has to believe that neither will be too happy with their walks at the Pontal venue, as they finished well behind their personal and season’s best. China’s Zhen Wang won in 1hr 19min 14sec, just two seconds outside his season’s best. Shange, who has been a revelation in the last year, was five minutes outside his season’s best and Snyman more than eight minutes outside his season’s best.

Here London Olympian Marc Mundell (50km) shares some thoughts on the race: ‘It was the first time male race walkers had competed in the 20km at the Olympics since 1960. Lebogang is the current SA record holder, which he set in Adelaide in February, then bettered at the national championships in April. Snyman recorded a lifetime best and IAAF qualification performance at the same race in Adelaide and also improved on his personal best at the 2016 nationals. Race day was a tops Turvey weather day with rain in the morning, warming up to decent sunshine prior to the start. The pace was solid throughout, lead by Tom Bosworth of Great Britain going through 10km in just over 40 minutes. As the pace quickened in the second half and temperatures rose, the field became more strung out. A lead group of nine athletes caught the leader in the second half of the race. The Chinese pair took control of proceedings going into the final quarter. The Chinese pair ended 1 -2 ahead of the Australian Dane Bird-Smith (with times of 1:19.14, 1:19.26 and 1:19.37 respectively). Brazilian local Bonfin was fourth holding off the German Linke with Bosworth (the early leader) finishing 6th. The South African duo faded in the second half.’

Men’s 400m heats: Wayde van Niekerk, first in heat three (45.27)

In a nutshell: In cruise control from gun to tape, Van Niekerk hit the front from the gun out in lane seven and even 100m into his race had eased up to a canter. He briefly tapped the accelerator as they hit the home straight but never needed to get anywhere near race mode. His time saw him eighth quickest of the 50 finishers in the heats with Commonwealth Games champion Kirani James quickest with a 44.93.

Men’s long jump qualifying round: Luvo Manyonga, Ruswahl Samaai and Stefan Brits

In a nutshell: The first two South Africans leapt smoothly into Saturday’s final but there was disappointment for United States based Brits. Manyonga leapt 8.12 metres and Samaai 8.03 to seal their spots as fourth and fifth longest but Brits would not be happy with his 7.71.m. ‘I’m just happy to get my spot in the final,’ said Manyonga. ‘I had one missed jump but the run-up is quite fast.’

As for Samaai he was in confident frame of mind. ‘I knew I’d get into the final. I’ve trained very hard for eight years to get here. The track is super-fast so it’s a good thing we’ve jumped her today so we can adjust for the final. I think it’s going to take an 8.30m jump to medal here.’

Women’s 100m, Round One, heats: Alyssa Conley, Carina Horn

In a nutshell: The South African champion (Conley) and the joint national record holder (Horn) were in action in heats seven and eight. And there were different opinions on the speed of the track and different outcomes of fortune. Conley was off first but struggled from the gun to clock 11.57 and end sixth of eight starters. In contrast Horn, in the last of eight heats, held her own as she placed second in 11.32 to automatically ensure progress to Saturday’s semi-finals. ‘No excuses at all,’ said a gracious Conley. ‘The restart unsettled me a bit but that’s not an excuse. I’ll put this behind me now and concentrate on the 200m. I found the track a bit slow tonight.’ In contrast Horn said: ‘To me the track felt quick. I had to increase the pace a bit in the last 30m or so because most of the girls had similar sort of times going into the race so you had to make sure of that top two. The ice has been broken now so its all focus on the semi’s now.’

Compiled by Mark Etheridge (Athletics and Sailing) and Gary Lemke (Golf, Rowing and Swimming)

SWIMMING
Men’s 1500m Freestyle Heats: Matthew Meyer finished seventh in his heat and failed to qualify for the final.
In a nutshell: Meyer, competing in his first Olympics at the age of 18, might be loving the Games experience but he won’t be pleased about his swim which saw him finish seventh (out of seven) in his heat in 15:36.22. He had an entry time of 15:09. Meyer showed up well for the first 400m of this gruelling 30-lapper after which he steadily lost touch with the leaders. The heat was won by Denmark’s Anton Ipsen in 15:05.91.

Men’s 4x100m Medley Relay, Heats: South Africa disappointingly failed to reach the final, with Chris Reid, Dylan Bosch, Cameron van der Burgh and Myles Brown clocking 3:35.50 to finish seventh in a heat won by the United States in 3:31.83.

Men’s 100m butterfly, Final: Chad le Clos finished in a three-way dead heat for second behind Joseph Schooling. All of Le Clos, Michael Phelps and Lazslo Cseh were credited with the same time.

Men’s 50m freestyle, Final: Brad Tandy finished in a dead heat for sixth.

DIVING
Women’s 3m springboard preliminary: Julia Vincent ended 29th with a score of 220.30.
In a nutshell: Competition was tough but so it should be at the Olympics. Her first dive was promising, an inward 2.5 somersault in tuck and scored in the upper satisfactory range of 5-6.5. The fact that it was in tuck and not pike meant the degree of difficulty was lower and put her in 28th place after the round. She then upped her game for round two which was way better as she did her forward 2,5 somersaults with one twist and, again scoring in the upper satisfactory range and elevating her to 24th. But then disaster struck, she got a really unstable take-off and stopped before doing the dive. Rattled, she took her time before the dive but it only scored in the deficient range of 2.5-4.5, which saw two marks removed from the judges’ score for the restart. That hiccup took her back to 29th.

Although she had time to recover round four wasn’t a lot better. Her 205B back 2.5 somersault in the pike position was a little leant and her entry was off so she remained in 29^th position. Her final round went fractionally better than round three with an unbalanced hurdle step but this time she took the dive however, pulled it over and scored low marks again. United States based Vincent has lived her dream just by the fact that she’s managed to come through the qualifying rounds. Her mom always wanted her to be an 800m-track racer like fellow Team SA athlete Caster Semenya. She knows that she wasn’t expected to be near medal potential but the experience will be a stepping-stone to greater things. Making her Olympic debut all that more special is the fact that it’s her 22nd birthday on Saturday. ME

BADMINTON
Men’s Singles Group play stage, Group N, Jacob Maliekal bt Artem Pochtarov 21 -18 21 -19
In a nutshell: Maliekal came to Rio hoping to cause an upset and that he did, beating the higher-ranked Ukraine athlete after going to his Korean opponent the previous evening. Said national coach Chris Dednam: ‘Jacob played the game of his life. He had to attack for most of the 47 minutes in a game of high paced play.
He almost gave away his 19-15 lead in the second game but managed to finish if off 21 -19. He still has an outside chance of going through when Korea and Ukraine play on Sunday. Ukraine has to win then they go on points.’ ME

SAILING
Men’s Laser and 470 classes, Stefano Marcia finds himself in 39th spot of 46 sailors after eight races in this class. On Friday he ended 44th and 36th and the former race will be his ‘discard’ race. This competition is expected to wrap on Saturday. Meanwhile the 470 class of Asenathi Jim and Roger Hudson continue to show steady improvement after opening races of 18th and 24th spots. Their last two races saw them race to 14th and 11th spots which earns them 17th overall.
Compiled by Mark Etheridge (Athletics and Sailing) and Gary Lemke (Golf, Rowing and Swimming)
Source: Sascoc

Olympics 2016 Rio

Team SA it’s Rio – 11 Aug 2016

August 12, 2016 Published by: Cresi Heslop

11 AUGUST 2016
Athens medallist congratulates SA’s latest rowing medal-winners
By Mark Etheridge
One of the first people to congratulate Lawrence Brittain and Shaun Keeling on winning silver in the rowing pairs at the Olympics on Thursday was fellow Olympian Ramon di Clemente.
Di Clemente won bronze in the same event at the Athens Olympics 12 years ago. Since then he’s gone on to actually row with both South Africa’s latest silver medallists.
In 2008 he teamed up with Keeling not too long before the Beijing Olympics and the duo raced to an impressive fifth spot in the A Final. He then teamed up with Brittain after Beijing and they went on to medal at World Cup level.
‘The boys raced well today. They needed to have a good second thousand and they did that today. I’m so proud of them as I’ve rowed with them both. ‘They did themselves justice as they’ve been working hard for many years.’ Di Clemente went on to express his confidence that the code will continue to make great strides. ‘The more medals we get the more popular it will become and I think there’s lots to look forward to.’ Lawrence’s silver now adds to Matthew’s gold when he was part of the lightweights fours in London four years ago.

SA Sevens sign off in style
By Gary Lemke
It must have been a tough few hours between that 7-5 surprise defeat to Great Britain at the Deodoro stadium and the bronze medal match against Japan, but Neil Powell’s men are a proud and professional unit and they got the job done in style, 54-14. And, when the dust had settled, a bronze is more than nine other countries, including New Zealand and Australia, achieved at the first rugby instalment at an Olympics since 1924.
Fiji went on to win the gold medal, their first of any colour in any sport and Olympics, thumping Great Britain 43-7. South Africa made their intentions known right from kick-off and within a minute they’d crossed the line – the third time this tournament they’d scored that quickly – after a sweeping movement downfield was finished off by Juan de Jongh, who gave Cecil Afrika an easy conversion.
SA draw with Iraq not enough
By Mo Allie
After a bright start to their Olympic campaign when they held Brazil 0-0, South Africa left the competition in disappointing fashion after holding a dominant Iraq to a 1 -1 draw at the Corinthians Stadium in Sao Paulo. Needing a win to progress to the quarter-finals, South Africa got off to the perfect start when Gift Motupa slotted home from close range after six minutes.
The goal came wrapped with a huge slice of luck, which was to prove a valuable ally throughout the game, when Andile Fikizolo’s cross rolled neatly into Orlando Pirates midfielder’s path off the back of Iraq defender Suad Natiq’s head just inside the six-yard area.
Stung by their early setback, the junior Lions of Mesopotamia took the game by the scruff of its neck and dominated the rest of the encounter with enterprising play that made the South Africans look like a motley crew that had been picked up off the street en route to the stadium.
Coach Pauw pushes for women’s league so game can grow
As the national women’s Olympic football team headed home from Rio on Thursday, coach Vera Pauw said the team’s eight-month journey has been an amazing one.
Banyana Banyana left the Olympic stage in Brazil with a gutsy performance that saw them hold Brazil to a goalless draw in the final group stages match on Tuesday night.
Not many had given the South Africans a chance against the hosts, who had demolished China 3-0 and ran riot over Sweden with a 5-1 victory in their first two matches.
But Banyana Banyana managed to put the brakes on the home side’s winning streak, in front of a packed Amazonia Arena in Manaus, Brazil.
‘We had intentions of winning, and this starts by not conceding. We gave everything in the second half of this match and in the end we had nothing else to give that is how difficult it was. But if you compare with a while ago, we could not give teams at this level a good game,’ said Pauw.
‘This shows we have grown so much in the last six months that we can only say it has been a tremendous journey, and hopefully a professional league will start in South Africa because if you can showcase this with this group of players, then you have to take care of the future of the game so that new talent can come in – and a professional league is the only way to drive forward into the future of women’s football in South Africa.’

Arena 2 – Martial Arts

How Team SA fared on Thursday
There were six different codes being represented by Team South Africa on Thursday. South Africa picked up their third medal of the Games when Lawrence Brittain and Shaun Keeling won silver in the Men’s Pair final. Rowing also qualified another four boats for the rowing finals on a strong morning. The Sevens lost their semi-final 7-5 to Great Britain. Times are Rio local and in brackets is SA time.

ROWING
Men’s Pair final: Lawrence Brittain and Shaun Keeling finished second to win the silver medal.
In a nutshell: Eric Murray and Hamish Bond haven’t been beaten in nine years and the New Zealanders are one of the dominant acts in sport. But they were pushed hard in the last 200m as South Africa’s Brittain and Keeling threw everything at them and were closing fast at the line. Brittain and Keeling had made a fast start from lane one and led through 500m, after which New Zealand made their move and came to the front, taking a lead they never relinquished. Behind them South Africa, Great Britain and Italy were going stroke for stroke, trading places. At halfway South Africa were fourth and out of the medals but they put the
hammer down in the last 500m and surged home powerfully. South Africa was winning their third Olympic medal in rowing, and now has a collection of gold, silver and bronze in the sport. GL
How they finished: Gold New Zealand 6:59.71 Silver South Africa 7:02 51 Bronze Italy 7:04.52

Women’s Pair: Lee-Ann Persse and Kate Christowitz qualified for the final by finishing third in their semi in 7min 24.03sec.
In a nutshell: As expected, the South Africans found Great Britain and the United States a little too hot by the end of the 2 000m but finished a strong third of the six boats to reach the final. Persse and Christowitz were never out of the first three and in fact were chasing the GBR boat right from the start before the USA upped the tempo inside the last 500m to move into second in the quicker of the two semis. Persse and Christowitz however qualified third fastest for the final and have a real medal opportunity.
Fastest qualifiers: 1 Great Britain 7:18.69, 2 United States 7:20.93, 3 South Africa 7:24.03, 4 Denmark 7:27.56 GL

Lightweight Women’s Double Sculls: Kirsten McCann and Ursula Grobler won their semi-final in 7:19.09 to qualify for the final.
In a nutshell: McCann and Grobler reached the semis by virtue of winning their heat and China and New Zealand had looked to be their toughest semi-final opponents. While China started the quickest, the South Africans were travelling well and the two boats went through halfway side by side, with New Zealand behind that. These three pulled clear of the opposition and South Africa McCann and Grobler made their move, hitting the front. South Africa held off to beat New Zealand and China and qualified for the final in fourth.
Fastest qualifiers: 1 Netherlands 7:13.93, 2 Canada 7:16.35, Ireland 7:18.24, 1
South Africa 7:19.09 GL

Lightweight Men’s Double Sculls: James Thompson and John Smith won their semi-final in 6:38.01 to qualify for the final.
In a nutshell: The South Africans had caught the eye in reach the semi-finals but this is where things started to get tough. Thompson and Smith had been part of the Four that won gold in 2012 and are experienced, hardened campaigners. Norway set a cracking early pace to pull the field through 500m with South Africa, Poland and Italy virtually in a line for second. Norway went through halfway a boat length clear with Thompson and Smith leading the battle for second. Then the South Africans started to pile on the pressure and drew alongside Norway at the 1500m mark before nudging ahead to cross the line first.
Fastest qualifiers: 1 France 6:34.43, 2 United States 6:35.19, 3 Ireland 6:35.70,
4 South Africa 6:38.01 GL

Men’s Four: David Hunt, Jonathan Smith, Vincent Breet and Jake Green finished second in their semi in 6:15.22 to qualify for the final.
In a nutshell: The Four had reached the semi-final by virtue of winning their repechage and were drawn in lane six of the six boats. They needed to finish on the first three. Australia drew away but South Africa stuck to their guns and dug deep inside the last 500m, determined to qualify. They did exactly that by holding off Italy for second and Hunt punched the air in delight as they hit the line in second and reached the final after their first day disappointment. GL

SWIMMING
Men’s 50m Freestyle, Heats: Doug Erasmus finished fourth in his heat in 22.37 and placed 29th overall , failing to qualify for the semi-finals.
Men’s 50m Freestyle, Heats: Brad Tandy finished fourth in his heat in 21.94 and qualified for the semi-finals.
In a nutshell: Tandy was the standout from a South African perspective. He finished 12th overall in a highly competitive event, highlighted by the fact he was only 0.33 seconds off the second placed qualifier. Ukraine’s Andrii Govorov set the standard at 21.49.

Men’s 100m butterfly, heats: Chad le Clos finished third in his heat in 51.75 and qualified seventh fastest for the semi-finals.
In a nutshell: Le Clos needed to get back into the water after what he called ‘the worst performance of my career’, when fourth in the men’s 200m butterfly final, a result that saw him lose his Olympic title. However, he did what he had to do, admits that he is always rusty in the morning and is intending to give a powerful statement later in the evening.

Chad Le Clos focused for 100m butterfly heats

GOLF
Men’s Stroke play, First round: Brandon Stone shot an opening 75, four-over par, to sit 12 shots behind the early leader, Australia’s Marcus Fraser, ranked No90 in the world. Jaco van Zyl posted a level par 71.

SEVENS RUGBY
Men’s semi-finals: South Africa went down 7-5 to Great Britain to lose out on a spot in the final against Fiji and instead met Japan in the bronze medal match where they racked up a half-century of points in beating them 54-14 and earning South Africa their fourth medal of these Games.

BADMINTON
Men’s singles group play stage– Group N: Jacob Maliekal lost 2-0 to Wan Ho Son (Kor)

SAILING
470 Class, race three: Asenathi Jim and Roger Hudson took 15th spot as winds ranged between 15 and 23 knots. In their fourth race they improved by one spot and are now lying 19th out of 26 craft. Leaders with just points are Croatia’s Igor Marenic and Sime Fantela with just four points
Source: Sascoc

Olympics 2016 Rio

Team SA it’s Rio – 10 Aug 2016

August 11, 2016 Published by: Cresi Heslop

10 AUGUST 2016
SA Sevens win through to semis
By Gary Lemke
South Africa’s Sevens side are one win away from a guaranteed gold or silver medal after reaching the Olympic semi-finals at a wet Diadoro stadium in Rio. Awaiting them for a place in the final on Thursday (kick-off 3pm local, 8pm SA time) is Great Britain, who needed an extra-time try to break the 0-0 deadlock against Argentina to progress. The other semi sees Fiji take on Japan. The losers of both semis will meet in the bronze medal match.
For South Africa it was a tale of two halves on the second day of Sevens competition, the first time rugby has featured in an Olympics since 1924. Earlier, they rounded off their Pool B match and put in an error-strewn and scrappy display to lose 12-5 to Australia, but still managed to top their pool. By a strange twist of the permutations, they were allotted a quarter-final against the same Australian opponents some seven hours later. This time coach Neil Powell’s men responded in the way champions do, winning, 22-5. While Japan had stunned New Zealand and then beat France to qualify for the semi-finals, the smart money has to be on Fiji beating them and then the final to be between then two pre-tournament favourites, Fiji and South Africa. They have been the two best teams in the competition by a considerable margin.

Flags flying high

How SA fared on Wednesday
There were six different codes being represented by Team South Africa on Wednesday (10 August). Rowing was, for the second time in these Games, called off for the day owing to miserable weather conditions.
Here is a list of South Africans in competition. Times are Rio local and in brackets
is SA time.

RUGBY SEVENS
Men’s Pool B: South Africa lost their final pool match against Australia 12-5.

In a nutshell: South Africa, unbeaten and having scored 50 points without conceding any against Spain and France, looked a different team playing in white. The Australians had lost 31 -14 to France – who South Africa beat 26-0 – but turned up to play against the group favourites. It was a scrappy encounter but Australia had done their homework and took advantage of a lethargic South African display. They were 12-0 up at the interval and while a Seabelo Senatla try made it 12-5, they were never on top of their game. GL

CYCLING
Women’s individual road time trial (29.86km): Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio, 12th of 25 starters in an average speed of 38.335 kph In a nutshell: Another gritty display from South Africa’s leading road racer. Lying seventh after the first 10km split she hit the deck shortly afterwards and despite hanging in there with every fibre of her tiny body was unable to make up more time as she ended 2min 02.69sec behind American Kristin Armstrong who will start her 33rd birthday celebrations a day early. Moolman-Pasio, who will sport some battle scars on her left hip, can still stand way taller than her 1.63m frame. She may not look back at her Olympic performance as being a great success but she will return to her Italian base and then back to South Africa in the knowledge that she’s been SA’s best female road racing performer at the Olympics to date. ME

What she said: ‘It’s really tough when you come to an Olympics having put so much into it and hope everything comes together but unfortunately that wasn’t the case for me, both in the road race and the time trial. In the road race [where she placed 10th] I had some mechanical problems with my brakes, which I only discovered after the race and then today I thought I was having a nice time trial but on the first steep descent I tried a conservative but fast descent and slid out. So another Olympic Games done but not the results I was looking for, but I still did my best to make my country proud. Conditions weren’t great but I’m normally a good technical rider so when I saw the rain I thought well that counts out those who are scared. Usually I would make it through but must have just hit some oil on the road and went sliding along the tar … but it is what it is. I’m not usually scared. I knew that was a steep technical descent but didn’t think it was a spot where the race could be won but definitely where it could be lost and unfortunately it had to be my loss. As I’ve always said over and over again, cycling is a very strange sport … you can prepare as much as you like, be in the best possible shape but then it’s just not your day.’ ME

EQUESTRIAN
1.30pm (6.3opm): Individual dressage: Tanya Seymour placed 27th with a score of 63.929%

In a nutshell: It seems nerves got the better of Ramoneur and anyone with a whisker of horsey knowledge knows that a stressed horse and dressage don’t make for a great combination. Seymour’s been racking up scores of around 70% on the ride into Rio and with the rest of the field in action on Thursday it doesn’t look like a 63% will be enough to make the cut into the Grand Prix Special. Top score of the day went to Germany’s Dorothee Schneider with an 80.986%.

Manager’s viewpoint: Says Ingeborg Sanne: ‘Ramoneur was just stressed today and when they’re stressed they just don’t listen to their riders. So because of the tension they make mistakes. He had actually loosened up quite nicely since arriving. Then today, he started nicely in his warm-up. But when he cantered into the ring, you could just see his face and his expression was one of “Woaaaa!’. I think in a group like today she would have needed to place around sixth or seventh and in something close to her best score.’ ME

JUDO
Men’s -90kg: Zack Piontek lost to Camilo Tiago (Bra) by Ippon with Tai-otoshi in 5:00 at elimination round of 32.

In a nutshell: It was always going to be a tough assignment for the big South African, ranked No23 in the world. He was coming up not only against the world No20, but a Brazilian who was cheered on by a wildly partisan home crowd and who was a silver medallist from the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Tiago got the win and Piontek will take no further part in the competition. GL

SAILING
470 men (Asenathi Jim and Roger Hudson) races one and two, and Laser (Stefano Marcia) races five and six:
The London Olympians opened their 2016 Games campaign with an 18th spot in a fleet of 26. Winds varied between eight and 16 knots and first honours went to Croatia’s Sime Fantela and Igor Marenic. In their second race, they slipped back to 24th spot as Aussies Matthew Belcher and Will Ryan took the honours. That meant that they will start day two’s action in 22nd spot overall. Meanwhile Games debutant Marcia ended 44th of 47 Laser boats in his first race of the day. This means he was 38th in the overall standings as Croatia’s Tonci Stipanovic regained the lead. In his next race the wind had picked up markedly to between 16 and 20 knots. He ended 38th at Britain’s Nick Thompson won race six. Overall Marcia is also in the same position (38th). ME
Source: Sascoc

Olympics 2016 Rio

Team SA it’s Rio – 09 Aug 2016

August 10, 2016 Published by: Cresi Heslop

9 AUGUST 2016

Le Clos fourth as Phelps reigns supreme
By Gary Lemke
After all was said and done, Michael Phelps did his talking in the pool. The American legend claimed the 20th gold medal of his career and stamped himself as one of the greatest athletes of all time when he cleaned up in the most anticipated head-to-head of Rio 2016.
At the end of it, Phelps touched the wall first with Chad le Clos, the brilliant young South African who had ripped the Olympic 200m butterfly cloak of invincibility off his back in 2012, languishing in the American’s wake. History will show that Phelps won gold in 1:53.36, and a distraught Le Clos went home with nothing to show for it. Fourth place in 1:54.06.
Le Clos, bidding to become the only man other than Phelps to retain a men’s 200m butterfly title, came up short. Between him and the imperious American was the charging Japanese Masato Sakai, only four-hundredths of a second behind and Hungarian teenager Tamas Kenderesi third in 1:53.06.
With media scrambling down the steep steel stairs to get into the mixed zone, an experienced, triumphant American said, ‘Did you see, Phelps gave him the [finger] wag afterwards. He served his butt to him on a plate.’ With emotions running high after all the hype, it was hard to argue that Phelps had ‘owned’ Le Clos in this particular race.

Roland Schoeman on pool deck at Rio Olympics 2016

SA Sevens men open campaign in style
By Gary Lemke
South Africa’s Sevens team made a dream start to their Olympic campaign when they won both their Pool B matches at the Deodora stadium, firstly keeping Spain scoreless (24-0) and then following that with a demolition job over France, winning 26-0.
Having scored within 90 seconds against Spain earlier in the day, South Africa were on the board even quicker against France, dotting down after 54 seconds following a barnstorming run by Kwagga Smith that had been continued by Cecil Afrika who passed inside to the unmarked Justin Geduld. With temperatures still sitting at 28deg at 4.30 in the afternoon, the match had an understandably stop-start tempo to it, but most of the decisive running came from the South Africans.
They were strong in the tackle too where Kyle Brown stood firm and after one turnover had been created by the captain, the ball was fed to Smith who, inside his own 22m, jinked inside his man and then ran the rest of the length of the field and Afrika converted for 14-0.
What’s up with Wayde as his big day gets closer
World 400-metre track champion Wayde van Niekerk had a whistle-stop Monday moment in the Athletes’ Village ahead of his bid to add an Olympic title to his already impressive sporting portfolio, writes Mark Etheridge.

Catch some bullet points from the Bloemfontein blitz:
On being Team SA’s flag bearer at Friday’s opening ceremony

‘An amazing experience… the team environment alone was something special and to share that opportunity with so many guys that are friends and inspire me – it just brought joy to me knowing that we represent our
country in a positive light.’

What he’s been up to since his last race in Monaco in mid-July.
‘Well I got to Gemona, Italy and could focus on myself again because in South Africa things were a bit crazy with sponsor responsibility and random media etc. and I couldn’t sit down and focus on me and my career although of course that comes with the territory. When I got to Europe and Jamaica etc. I was more relaxed and confident to compete.’
Expectations of the Rio Olympics.
‘I always want more but it’s no use me going on my knees every race and say “God take over and control my race”.. .I’ll be happy with whatever comes my way, I’m grateful. This is a new competition but I’ll put my best foot forward we don’t know what time will win but I hope the time I run is the winning time’
How does the Olympic experience compare with world champs.
‘Well at the moment I’m keeping it quite simple. I’m a very laid back person and relaxed and I just need to relax and chill and watch movies. I don’t do anything out of the ordinary but it’s the Olympics and something major and another opportunity to go out there and achieve something in my career. So I’m taking it seriously when it comes to my event. Afterwards I’ll get to know Brazil.’

Rio Olympic Park 2016

How Team SA fared on Tuesday
There were five different codes being represented by Team South Africa on Tuesday (9 August). Here is a list of South Africans in competition. Times are Rio local and in brackets is SA time.
ROWING
Men’s Pair: Lawrence Brittain and Shaun Keeling qualified for the final by finishing third in their semi-final in 6min 27.59sec.
In a nutshell: Six boats squared off in two semi-finals. The selection criteria was simple – the first three in each semi progressed to the ‘A’ final and the other three went to the ‘B’ final. Brittain and Keeling got off to a fast start through the first 300m before being joined by favourites New Zealand in lane four. The Olympic and world champions, with a stroke rate of 40, compared to the 38 of the South Africans, put their noses in front at the 500m mark and weren’t to beheaded again. Brittain and Keeling were alone in second and Great Britain – the country, not individual – pulled into third going through halfway. These three boats had put daylight between them and the rest of the field and qualified comfortably, with New Zealand looking every inch the gold medal favourites they are. South Africa were touched off by GBR for second but kept the rest of the chasers away. Gary Lemke (GL)
What they said: ‘It was probably the best weather we’ve had so far, said Brittain. ‘Overall, a good race by us. Our first three-quarters were good but the last quarter wasn’t as good. But the main thing was to get into that final.
Sitting at the back of the boat I get the chance to watch the other crews so I could see we were doing the job well enough. But there’s still work to be done for that final. Keeling added his thoughts on the victorious winners of their semi, Kiwi gold medal favourites Murray and Bond. ‘These guys haven’t been beaten in nine years but in an Olympic final anything can happen. All we can do is go for the best race we can and if we produce that I’d like to think we have a shot.’ Mark Etheridge (ME)
Men’s Four Repechage 1: David Hunt, Jonathan Smith, Vincent Breet and Jake Green made amends for their under-par performance on Monday with victory in their repechage to progress to the semi-finals. In a nutshell: South Africa were never headed as they pulled Belarus and Russia along. It was a comfortable win for the Four who weren’t happy with their effort on Monday, but who were determined to put things right having been given a second chance of qualifying through the back door. They won in 6:34.97 and will now have their sights and minds focused on the semi-finals. GL
What they said: Hunt is confident the crew have moved on from their below-par performance in Mondays’ heat. ‘I think yesterday was probably just down to a bit of inexperience. We normally have a good start and it seemed we almost doubted our own lead and as though we just sat waiting. But today we wanted to contest and aggressive and fastest. I thought we
really had a ruthless middle sector.’ ME

RUGBY SEVENS
Men’s Pool B: South Africa were untroubled Spain in their game against tournament minnows, winning 24-0.
In a nutshell: The game had come immediately after France produced an upset to beat fellow Pool B rivals Australia 29-14. But there was to be no repeat as South Africa immediately went on the front foot, scoring through Cecil Africa to be 7-0 up after 90 seconds. That became 14-0 at half-time (Africa with another converted try) before second half tries by Seabelo Senatla and Philip Snyman made the final score 24-0 at the Deodora Stadium. GL
Men’s Pool B: For the second match in a row, South Africa kept a clean sheet while going over for four tries as they earned a 26-0 win over France to add to their 24-0 victory over Spain earlier.
In a nutshell: South Africa were strong on attack and result in defence as they kept their opposition trills – and in truth, France never came close to scoring. For South Africa, tries were scored by Justin Geduld, Kwagga Smith, Kyle Brown and Dylan Sage, while Cecil Afrika converted three of them. GL

SAILING
Laser Men, Race 3: Stefano Marcia
In a nutshell: Marcia ended 42nd out of 46 starter in his third race, sailed in winds of between 10-14 knots. That will come as something of a disappointment after his 30th and 25th spots on the opening day of competition. That saw him dropping from 28th to 34th in the overall fleet standings with 97 points. His second race saw a slight improvement though as he ended 39th but his overall standing is now 36th. Meanwhile up front it’s Argentinian Julio Lsogaray who has moved into the lead on 21 points, replacing Croatia’s Tonci Stipanovic. ME

SWIMMING
Men’s Breaststroke Heats: Jarred Crous finished eighth in his heat in 2:12.64 and 25th overall and Cameron van der Burgh also finished seventh in his heat in 2:12.67 and 26th overall. Though the two displayed good performance, they failed to qualify for the semi-finals.
In a nutshell: Olympic 100m silver medallist Cameron van der Burgh showed up well for the first 100m, but after that he had what he calls ‘problems with my stroke’ and he knew from a long way out that he wasn’t going to be a factor in this longer event. He’d been looking for a 2:10, but it was not going to happen on the day. Yet, he still needed the ‘racing experience’ and has something to go back and work on. What Van der Burgh hadn’t said in the lead-up to these Games is that he picked up a bad virus in Europe at a crucial time of preparation and it required two sets of antibiotics to be treated. With that in mind his heroics in the 100m, where he held off a wall of challengers, pulling on a steely mental resolve, should not be underestimated. A few days later, that silver can feel like a gold. Crous, who came into the competition with a 2:10.80, will be disappointed that he wasn’t able to replicate that on this stage. A 2:11.25 would have been good enough to make the list of 16 semi-finalists. GL

Men’s 4x200m Freestyle: South Africa, with a quartet of Myles Brown, Sebastien Rousseau, Calvin Justus and Dylan Bosch finished fifth behind the United States, timing 7:12.61 in their heat. Brown, who’d set a new 400m national record at the weekend, produced a 1:46.47 first 200m, to carry South Africa into the lead. Rousseau’s leg was 1:48.35, Justus 1:49.04 and Bosch 1:48.75 as South Africa qualified 11th out of 16 but unfortunately failed to make the final.
Men’s 200m Butterfly: Chad le Clos finished out of the medals, in fourth, as Michael Phelps won the 20th gold medal of his Olympic career.

Rio 2016 SA Mens 4x200m Freestyle Relay

FOOTBALL
Women’s First Round, Group E: South Africa drew 0-0 with Brazil
In a nutshell: They had pride to play for in their final group match and they can be proud that they held the usually free-scoring host nation scoreless in Manaus. But, and it’s a big but, where are the goals going to come from? South Africa failed to score once in their three matches: 0-1 against Sweden and 0-2 to China and now 0-0 to Brazil. In London four years ago it was just Portia Modise’s freak strike that put Banyana Banyana on the goals-for column in three matches and SA are seriously going to need to find a strike force out there somewhere. ME
Source: Sascoc

Home Olympics 2016 Rio

Team SA it’s Rio – 08 Aug 2016

August 9, 2016 Published by: Cresi Heslop

8 AUGUST 2016
Le Clos speeds to spectacular silver

By Gary Lemke
Chad le Clos gate crashed the party of the world’s men’s elite freestyle sprinters when he raced his way to a memorable silver in the 200m final to earn South Africa’s second Olympic medal of Rio 2016. ‘Not bad for a fly guy,’ he probably said to himself after breaking the South African and African record in the process.

Twenty four hours earlier Le Clos had qualified for the final of the 200m freestyle, but only after ’tying’ up in the last 10 metres, ultimately qualifying seventh fastest, but still earning a place at the top table of the men’s party.
Then, he’d catapulted off the blocks and into a commanding lead, only swallowed by a pack of challengers down the 50m home stretch in his semi-final. Afterwards, he asked, ‘what was my 50m split?’ When told ’23.91’, he replied, ‘Wow, that’s fast! That’s fast! I went out a bit too fast. I want to get out there, always go hard, against the best guys in the world.
‘I struggled a bit tonight, and when I turned at the 100, I didn’t know what to do, I’ve never been this far ahead, ever, my whole life. I like to race. In the last 10m I was hurting a bit, and I knew that, like this morning as well, I’d gone slightly too fast. I need to pace myself slightly better,’ he said.
Well, when it came to the final, Le Clos, whose odds had drifted from 6-1 to win gold to 25-1 in the wake of that semi-final, again left the blocks like a bullet from a barrel. He got to 50m in 23.39, a half second quicker than he had gone in the semi-final. ’I need to pace myself better,’ he had said better after that semi. Here he was going quicker.
Three of four SA boats pull through to semi-finals
Strong winds forced the cancellation of rowing action at the Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas on Sunday but on Monday South Africa showed they’re a force to be reckoned with as three of the four boats in action breezed into their semi-finals.
The lightweight women’s double skulls, women’s pairs and men’s double skulls all went through directly and it was only the men’s fours who hit a hiccup, having to come back to Tuesday’s repechage for another crack at the semi-finals.

First up in action were the lightweight crew of Kirsten McCann and Ursula Grobler who led from start to finish and clocked a winning time of 7min 07.37 for the 2000-metre stretch. Already 3.41 sec clear of Ireland after 500m they extended their lead in every quarter to win by 10.91sec in the end.
Looking on was rowing coach Paul Jackson and, although he doesn’t actually coach this specific boat, he still liked what he saw. ‘There was a slight cross-wash which they handled well though. They just did what it took to get them through to the semi and I really liked their “togetherness.” Speaking afterwards, a calm and collected McCann said: ‘We just take each race as it comes, really just getting the race done and one race at a time. In this sport
you can’t get ahead of yourself.
‘Coach Roger [Barrow] has done a really good job of rigging the boat and we’re ready for any conditions. It’s challenging but we have trained for anything.’
How Team SA fared on Monday
ROWING
Lightweight Women’s Double Sculls: Kirsten McCann and Ursula Grobler won their heat in 7min 07.37sec to progress straight to Wednesday’s semi-finals. In a nutshell: Better conditions for the rowers after Sunday’s debacle. McCann and Grobler went fast from the start, and quickly built a lead. They were nearly two boat lengths clear after 500m and kept their rhythm and stroke to be nearly four seconds ahead of Ireland at 1 000m. The gap maintained through to the finish. Job done.

Heat result: 1 South Africa 7:07.37, 2 Ireland 7:10.91, 3 Brazil 7.20.79 Fastest heat winners: Netherlands 6:57.27, China 7:00.13, Canada 7:03.51, South Africa 7:07.37

Lightweight Men’s Double Sculls: James Thompson and John Smith were impressive in winning their heat in 6:23.10 to progress straight to the semi-finals.

In a nutshell: Thompson and Smith, part of the Men’s Lightweight Four that won a historic gold at London 2012, were impressive and confirmed their status as medal candidates when beating the Britain’s Will Fletcher and Richard Chambers. The Brits, in lane four, started quicker and went through the 500 and 1 000m marks about three-quarters of a boat length ahead of the South Africans, in the outside lane five. But, from halfway Thompson and Smith poured on the pressure and
came alongside Britain with 500m to go before pulling clear to win in eye-catching style. A medal? You bet! GL
SWIMMING

Men’s 200m Butterfly: Chad le Clos, the 2012 Olympic champion, won his heat in 1:55.57 to qualify for the evening semi-finals.

In a nutshell: Le Clos swam well within himself, controlling the race from lane for and won more comfortably than the time would suggest. Still, the 1:55.57 placed him third overall for the morning, with fierce rival Michael Phelps fifth fastest, swimming in a different heat. For a brief moment he was headed but always knew where he was in the race and allowed himself to look left and right again inside the final 30 metres just to make sure there were no dangers lurking. There weren’t. GL

Heat result: 1 Chad le Clos (RSA) 1:55.57, 2 Masato Sakai (Japan) 1:55.76, 3
Zheng Wen Quah (Sing) 1:56.01.
Men’s 200m Butterfly: Sebastien Rousseau finished eighth in his heat in 1:57.33 and failed to qualify for the semi-finals, placing 23rd overall.
In a nutshell: It has been a disappointing Olympics for the experienced Rousseau, who also failed to get past the heats in the 400m IM. He again was never in the race with a chance of getting out of the heats, getting to the 50m wall nicely enough in 26.02 but falling off the pace from there. The heat was won by bookies favourite Laszlo Cseh in 1:55.14. GL

Fastest qualifiers: 1 Tamas Kenderesi (Hun) 1:54.73, 2 Laszlo Cesh (Hun) 1:55.14, 3 Chad le Clos (RSA) 1:55.57, 4 Grant Irvine (Aus) 1:55.64, 5 Michael Phelps (USA) 1:55.73, 23 Sebastien Rousseau (RSA) 1:57.33
Men’s 200m Freestyle: Chad le Clos finished second in the final in a South African/African record 1:45.20 to win the silver medal.
In a nutshell: Olympic 2004 gold medallist Ryk Neethling had been confident all week that Le Clos had it in him to win a medal in a race dominated by freestyle specialists. Le Clos himself had that twinkle when he said, after qualifying for the final, that ‘he didn’t know what to do’ after reaching 100m in front in such elite company. He knew what he was doing. Swimming in lane one he blazed off the blocks, using all that speed and leading for the first 150m, going for glory in lane one. He was collared late by the favourite, China’s Yang Sun, but Le Clos had dug in to take a memorable silver. GL

How they finished: 1 Yang Sun (China) 1:44.65, 2 Chad le Clos (RSA) 1:45.20, 3 Conor Dwyer (USA) 1:45.23
Men’s 200m Butterfly: Chad le Clos finished third in his semi-final, timing 1:55.19, to qualify fourth fastest for the final.
SAILING
Men’s Laser, Race 1 and Race 2: Stefano Marcia got his maiden Olympics voyage up and running at the Marina da Glória. In action over two races the youngster started off with 30th spot out of 45 boats. He then improved that to 25^th out of 46. After the first day’s sailing he’s now 28th overall with a total of 55 points. At the front of the pack is Croatia’s Tonci Stipanovic with six points.

In a nutshell: Marcia was satisfied after a hard day’s sailing. Winds varied between 10-12 knots and conditions were rather choppy. It was his second racing regatta at the Rio venue. ‘There were some massive wind shifts out there today, like between 10-15 degrees. I was especially pleased with my second race and the race tracker even showed me first at one stage, by 11 metres. ME

What does Marcia say? ‘I’ll take these two race results on day one for sure. It’s going to be a very tough regatta.’
Five things to know about the 200m butterfly

Chad le Clos is bidding to become the only swimmer to retain his Olympic title in this event. The other is Michael Phelps.
Lazslo Cseh is the bookies’ favourite, at 12-10, followed by Phelps 17-10 and Le Clos 7-2. Cseh was silver medallist in 2008 and bidding to give Hungary its first gold in this event.
Phelps is bidding to become the first swimmer to win a medal in this event in four successive Olympics.
Cseh won the European title in May in 1:52.91, the fastest time since Phelps swam his world record of 1:51.51 in 2009.
If Phelps won he’d be the oldest winner of an individual event. He will be 31 years and 40 days on the day of the final, 9 August.

What does Le Clos say? ‘I’m very excited, I’ve been waiting a very long time for this. Very, very excited.’
Source: Sascoc

Olympics 2016 Rio

Team SA it’s Rio – 07 Aug 2016

August 8, 2016 Published by: Cresi Heslop

7 AUGUST 2016

Van der Burgh opens Team SA’s medal count

Cameron van der Burgh put Team South Africa on the medals table, like he did in London four years ago, and this time it didn’t matter that it was a silver that he won.
Van der Burgh pulled out all the stops in the final of the men’s 100m breaststroke at the Olympic stadium, producing the second fastest swim of his life – 58.69sec – which saw him chase home Adam Peaty, the British wonderkid who sped to his second world record in three swims, this time a 57.13.

‘I can’t say I’m disappointed,’ said Van der Burgh, the gold medallist from four years ago. ‘The Olympics is such a big stage and I’m getting goosebumps all over again knowing that I’m going to be walking out there for the medals ceremony again and they’re going to play Chariots of Fire again. ‘Coming into the final, I knew I didn’t have a 57-second in me; I have a few issue with my stroke and I’m not connecting properly with the kick and pull but I also knew that if Adam made some mistakes I’d be right there. He didn’t and well done to him, it was an incredible swim by him. But silver is a nice colour too and I’m super proud to add it to my collection. People don’t remember you by the world records that you’ve broken – as you can see here they are getting broken all the time – but they remember you on the medals you’ve won.’

Moolman-Pasio grabs 10th in women’s road race
By Mark Etheridge
Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio raced to the best ever finish by a South African women’s road cyclist at the Olympics as she ended 10th on Sunday. After hitting the front in the latter stages and ensuring the rainbow nation’s women’s cyclists will inspire another generation she failed to kick on the last grueling climb and had to watch as Dutch rider Anna van der Breggen covered the 136.9 kilometres quickest in 3hr 51min 27sec.
That, after her and silver medallist Emman Johansson of Sweden and Italy’s Elissa Longo Borghini had broken American Mara Abbot’s heart by catching her within 150m of the line on Copacabana beach and leaving her empty-handed.
Abbot in turn had been given a second chance at gold when Van der Breggen’s countrywoman Annemiek Van Vleuten (Ned) had blown her chances in a breakneck crash at speed inside the final 15km. Van Vleuten looked to have the gold medal on a plate after an awe-inspiring injection of pace before she crashed out like a plate at a traditional Greek restaurant.
Moolman-Pasio ended up 1min 14sec off the pace and fellow South African An-Li
Kachelhoffer was 38th, 10:02 off the pace. Said Moolman-Pasio afterwards: ‘It was a tough day out there but I did my absolute best. In hindsight it would have been a lot better had I had more teammates today as I got isolated in some spot and had to work that much harder than if I had more protection, but An-Li gave it her all.
How Team SA fared on Sunday
Strong winds at the Lagoa stadium led to the cancellation of the rowing events on Sunday. Four Team South African boats had been scheduled for action – the Women’s Pair, Lightweight Women’s Sculls, Lightweight Men’s Double Sculls and the Men’s Four. Three other codes were represented. Here is how they fared.
(Times are Rio local and in brackets is SA time.)
SWIMMING
Men’s 200m Freestyle (Heat 5): Chad le Clos and Myles Brown both qualified for the semi-finals in third and 13th fastest overall Gary Lemke says: Chad le Clos stuck his hand up as a potential medallist when he powered his way to a new personal best 1min 45.89sec. His previous PB had been 1:46.10 at the 2015 World Championships. The national record is the 1:45.67 set by Jean Basson at the 2009 World Championships. Le Clos got off to a blazing start and reacted fastest off the blocks (0.66) and reached 50m under world record pace. Stretching out to a body length clear the South African looked comfortable as he led at halfway (50.66), maintained a good lead at 150m (1:18.34) before being chased down by Yang Sun heading into the wall. The Chinese swimmer impressed with a 26.40 last 50m to win ahead of Le Clos who had already done all the hard work and could turn off the engines. Brown, who broke the SA 400m freestyle record on Saturday, sat in Le Clos’ slipstream in the lane outside him for much of the race before finishing fifth in 1:46.78 and booking a place in the evening’s semi-finals.
Fastest qualifiers: 1 Yang Sun (China) 1:45.75, 2 Paul Biedermann (Ger) 1:45.78, 3 Chad le Clos (RSA) 1:45.89 PB, 4 Conor Dwyer (USA) 1:45.95, 13 Myles Brown (RSA) 1:46.78

Quotable quote: ‘I’m happy. It was hard but I wanted to go out hard and be at the front. We’ll see tonight. It’s a very big race tonight. I tightened up in the last 25 but it was the heats, I knew it was going to be hard. I’m not a natural freestyler but that was not bad for a fly guy.’ – Le Clos

Men’s 100m Backstroke (Heat 4): Christopher Reid qualified for the semi-finals after he finished fifth in his heat in 53.68 and 12th overall. Gary Lemke says: Christopher Reid had qualified for Rio with a time of 53.12 and took off in lane six in the fourth of five heats. He was second slowest to react (0.66), but reached the turn in 25.82, in fourth spot. The first five swimmers all went under 54 seconds. The 20-year-old Port Elizabeth-raised but now USA based was competing in his first Olympics and in honour of his father, who passed away from cancer, and whose dying wish had been to see his son perform in Rio. A semi-final in his first Games is a significant achievement for Reid.

Fastest qualifiers: 1 Camille Lacourt (France) 52.96, 2 Jiaya Xu (China) 53.01, 3 Mitchell Larkin (Aus) 53.04, 12 Christopher Reid (RSA) 53.68

Men’s 200m Freestyle, semi-finals: Myles Brown finished sixth in his race in 1:46.57, going quicker than he had in the heats. It wasn’t enough to see him qualify for the final – he placed 12th overall – but he can be happy with the improvement. Gary Lemke says: Chad le Clos, after another lightning start as he had done in the heats, led through the first 50m in 23.91 – ‘whew, that quick’ he said afterwards – but eventually had to settle for fifth in 1:45.94, but he qualified for the final, seventh overall. Le Clos freely admits that he ‘loves to race’ and this probably cost him – along with inexperience in the 200m freestyle – inside the last 25m of the semi-final. He wants to win every race he gets into and turns it into a dogfight if he has to. Don’t write him off ahead of the final; he’s unlikely to win but could win a bronze. At the back of his mind will be the fact there’s 30 minutes between the butterfly semi-final and the freestyle final.
Fastest qualifiers (into final): 1 Yang Sun (Japan) 1:44.63, 2 Kasuke Hagino (Japan) 1:45.45, 3 Conor Dwyer (USA) 1:45.55, 7 Chad le Clos (RSA) 1:45.94, 12 Myles Brown (RSA) 1:46.57
Men’s 100m breaststroke final: Cameron van der Burgh fought all the way and won the race for silver behind Britain’s Adam Peaty, who broke the world record for the second time in two swims with a 57.13 effort. Van der Burgh timed 58.69, with America’s Cody Miller third in 58.87.

FOOTBALL
Men’s Group A: South Africa vs Denmark
The Under-23 men displayed a great performance but unfortunately they lost 1 -0 to Denmark.

Source: Sascoc

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