Louzanne Coetzee will help draw the curtain on Team SA’s highly successful participation at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics when she carries the flag for the squad at the closing ceremony in the Olympic Stadium on Sunday night.
2020 PARALYMPICS
By GARY LEMKE in Tokyo
Anrune Weyers closed off a glittering Paralympic Games career when she finished fourth in the women's 200m (T47) final at a wet Tokyo Olympic Stadium on Saturday night. In the evening's other track final, Mpumelelo Mhlongo finished fifth in 22.86sec, having broken the world record in the T44 class in 22.81 in the morning heats. By GARY LEMKE in Tokyo
From one Paralympic legend to another in the making. Great Britain’s Richard Whitehead proved to be as classy in defeat as he has been in victory over the years when he took off his name pinned to his vest and turned to Ntando Mahlangu. “Let’s swap, Ntando. A changing of the guard.”
By GARY LEMKE in Tokyo
More than ever, in this age of Covid-19 and the wearing of face masks, the eyes have become the window to the soul. And standing there in the mixed zone inside the Tokyo Olympic Stadium, at 9:30pm last Saturday night, was Johan Snyders. The compulsory mask hid most of his face. But not the eyes. They were watery and red but the crumpled skin next to them pointed to a proud smile.
Thursday was the quietest it has been so far for Team SA in terms of competitors at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics, with two athletes in action. The weather, cold and wet, failed to dampen spirits, though – and there’s plenty to look forward to on Friday.
By GARY LEMKE in Tokyo
Charl du Toit, the gold medallist from Rio 2016, was unable to repeat those heroics five years later as he finished fifth in the final at the Tokyo Olympic Stadium, but he played a full part in the fastest race ever run by Paralympic T37 athletes for the men’s 400m.
By GARY LEMKE in Tokyo
If, and that’s still a big if, this was 48-year-old Ernst van Dyk’s final race of his Paralympic career, perhaps it is fitting that it was at the famous Fuji Speedway track, given the South African is a big Formula One fan himself.
Team SA was involved in six finals across two codes at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics on Wednesday. This is how they fared.
Sheryl James ensured Team SA’s medals tally kept ticking over when she powered her way to a bronze at a wet Olympic Stadium on Tuesday night, to add final gloss to a day in which Pieter du Preez won the country’s third gold medal of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics.
By GARY LEMKE in Tokyo
Pieter du Preez has overcome so much in his life that he wasn’t going to be thrown off track for Tokyo Paralympic gold by another competitor swerving in front of him, almost resulting in a race-ruining, or worse, accident.