14 September 2016
MEDALS: 13
Gold: 5
Kevin Paul – Swimming
Hilton Langenhoven – Athletics Charl du Toit – Athletics
Ernst van Dyk – Cycling Reinhardt Hamman – Athletics
Silver: 4
Ilse Hayes – Athletics Ntando Mahlangu – Athletics
Anrune Liebenberg – Athletics Jonathan Ntutu – Athletics
Bronze 4
Fanie van der Merwe – Athletics Tyrone Pillay – Athletics
Zanele Situ – Athletics Dyan Buis – Athletics
Golden boys Ernst and Reinhardt rocket Team SA up the medals table
By Mark Etheridge
Team South Africa had their second double-gold day of the Rio Paralympics on Thursday as first Ernst van Dyk then Reinhardt Hamman ended top of their class!
Picture of Hamman in heaven courtesy of Wessel Oosthuizen/SASPA
Van Dyk, who raced to fifth spot in the H5 time trial, pulled the rabbit out of the hat to win the men’s road race over 60 kilometres in a fabulous race which saw all three medallists being credited with the same time of 1hr 37min 49sec.
A little later in the day it was 2015 javelin world champion Reinhardt Hamman who fulfilled his rich potential by winning the F38 division.
It’s a huge feather in his cap for Van Dyk to get the better of former Formula One racer Allessandro.
As he said: ’I worked out early on that you had to be first though that final corner.
‘Then suddenly one guy crashed and everyone let me go to the front and I just stayed there! Earlier I saw Alex go round that corner on two wheels and knew that he’d have to be a bit careful so I just went for it and got some great acceleration and that was it
‘No better way to end my hand cycling career than at the Paralympics. My last gold was in Beijing and it’s been a crazy, crazy eight years.
‘So happy that it all worked out and now I’m looking forward to enjoying the marathons.’
As for Hamman, he had told Road to Rio 2016 earlier that he was up for this challenge and so it proved to be as he launched the spear to a personal best of 50.96 metres, a huge improvement of 74 centimetres.
This was a win that was dedicated immediately to his late dad Louis who passed away in March this year.
‘I went into this competition saying that I wanted to earn the medal not like Doha at World Championships when I kind of expected it.
‘My knee was a bit sore and I nearly stopped halfway but the thought of my dad screaming in my ear kept me going. I am sharing a room with two medallists, now there’s another one… wow that floor is going to cave in!
‘As for the actual competition, I kind of knew from the fifth round my my nerves were boiling over and when the Colombian guy threw I didn’t know whether to throw, or walk over the line or fall down flat and that last throw was just overwhelming.
‘I seem to be setting a bit of a trend now, keeping my best to last. That throw is going to be hard to beat but one thing I know is that World Champs next year are going to be a blast.’
Joining in the celebrations was Reinhardt’s mom Vivienne: ‘What can a mother say to her son?
…I’m so proud of what you achieved at the Rio2016 Paralympic Game. Gold is amazing. But after this video I have no more tissues….
As mentioned previously it’s gold that gets a team going up that medals table… Thursday’s two gold sees Team South Africa jumping eight spots from 27th to 19th and the day’s action was not done yet… the rainbow nation now have 11 medals with three days of competition remaining.
Watch this space!
Jonathan Ntutu claims Silver followed by Bronze from Buis: Jonathan Ntutu claimed Silver in the Men’s 100 T12 with a season best time of 11.09, while Dyan Buis jumped to Bronze with a best jump of 6.58m (Report to follow)
SUPERSPORT Coverage
SuperSport will broadcast two 24-hour channels (SS13 and SS14) in High Definition for the duration of the Games with producers choosing the best of four feeds from Olympic Broadcast Services. What isn’t broadcast live will be broadcast on a delayed basis.
The popular Blitz channel will carry regular Paralympic news items, while the two TV channels will be available via streaming via www.supersport.com and the SuperSport and DStv Now apps, as well as social platforms and DStv Catch Up.
Daily two-hour highlights packages will be scheduled on SS Select and SS9.
TEAM SA APP for Paralympics.
Following on from the Olympic Games, Team SA has its own App for all South African sports supporters wanting to follow Team SA athletes at the 2016 Rio Paralympics.
Loads of information can be found on the very easy to navigate App, bringing you results, competition schedules, athlete profiles, images and videos of the athletes plus more.
The App is free, users can download the App and it’s available globally. https://itunes.apple.com/za/app/teamsarise/id1133481695?mt=8 https://play.google.com/store/apps/details…
Support your team and keep up to date on daily sporting events in Rio with #TeamSArise mobile.
Results from Thursday 15 September 2016
SWIMMING:
Henri Herbst – 100m Freestyle S11 (Final – finished 4th, time of 59.63)
ATHLETICS:
Reinhardt Hamman Javelin F38 (GOLD medal with a winning throw of 50.96) Chenelle van Zyl Shot Put F35 (finished 4th, best throw of 8.49m)
Ndodomzi Ntutu – 100m T12 (SILVER medal in a time of 11.09 and a season best) Dyan Buis – Long Jump T38 (BRONZE medal with a jump of 6.58m)
Ntando Mahlangu – 100m T42 (finished 5th, time of 12.57)
Heats:
Charl du Toit 400m T37 (finished 1st, time of 55.28 and qualified for the finals)
Louzanne Coetzee 1500m T11 (disqualified after finishing 3rd in her heat under IPC rule 7.10 – guide runner must not push or pull or otherwise propel athlete)
Anrune Liebenberg – 200m T47 (finished 2nd, time of 26.63, season best and qualifies for final))
CYCLING:
Ernst van Dyk – Men’s road race H5 (GOLD – winning time of 1:37.49) Justine Asher – Women’s road race H2-4 (finished 12th, time of 1:37.36)
Athletes in action on Friday 16 September 2016
(All times listed below are for South Africa) Day 9 – 16 September
SWIMMING:
Heats:
3.00pm Emily Gray – 100m Backstroke (heats)
ATHLETICS:
3.07pm Dyan Buis 400m T38 (heats)
3.23pm Charl du Toit 400m T37 (final) 4.27pm Anrune Liebenberg 200m T47 (final)
4.35pm Charl du Toit 400m T37 (potential medal ceremony) 12.13pm Anrune Liebenberg 200m T47 (potential medal ceremony) 11.46pm Ndodomzi Ntutu 200m T12 (heat)
11.57pm Hilton Langehoven 200m T12 (heat)
CYCLING:
2.30pm Craig Ridgard – Men’s road race C1-3 (final)
4.40pm Craig Ridgard – Men’s road race C1-3 (potential medal presentation) 6.00pm Goldy Fuchs – Men’s road race T1-2 (final)
9.00pm Goldy Fuchs – Men’s road race T1-2 (potential medal presentation)
EQUESTRIAN:
2pm – Phillipa Johnson Individual Freestyle Test (Dressage)
Watch video clips of our athletes on the links below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1bOezQ86ok&feature=em-share_video_user
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTWYt-to5-E&feature=em-share_video_user
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1-w8YPOfq4&feature=em-share_video_user
Twitter Support:
Source – SASCOC
