Tatjana Schoemaker’s Olympic record in the women’s 100m breaststroke was the high point of Team SA’s representation at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics on Sunday.
Below is a summary of all Team SA’s representatives in action.
(All times in brackets denote SA times)
CYCLING
Women’s Road Race: South Africa’s Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio finished 13th, only 1min 46sec behind the winner as she crossed the line in a group of 11 riders sprinting for fifth position. Team SA’s other rider, Carla Oberholzer, did not finish after spending 75km at the front of the race over a punishing course in hot conditions
FOOTBALL
Men’s Group A. South Africa 3 France 4. This was a vastly improved performance from David Notoane’s team who had lost their opening game against Japan. After having the better of the first half, with Luther Singh missing a 40th minute penalty, SA went ahead in the 53rd minute through Kamahelo Kodisang. France equalised four minutes later, before Evidence Makgopa put SA 2-1 ahead. France hit back within six minutes for 2-2 before Teboho Mokoena struck in the 81st minute. Andre-Pierre Gignac completed his hat-trick with an 86th min equaliser before Savanier struck in the 92nd min
GYMNASTICS
Women’s Artistic gymnastics: Naveen Daries ahad a rough start but went clean on the next three apparatus,” said coach Ilse Laing (Roets). “She is lying sixth on the vault after sub-division two. There are three sub-divisions remaining. “Caitlin Rooskrantz scored an international PB today. That’s huge for her, considering it’s the Olympics in which she’s achieved it. Both gymnasts had the experience of a lifetime.”
ROWING
Men’s Pair, repechage: Luc Daffarn and Jake Green finished fifth (out of five) in their heat at the Sea Forest Waterway on Saturday and headed into Sunday’s repechage. There they finished fourth (out of four), 9.95sec down on winners Spain. SA were eliminated
Men’s Four, repechage: The men’s four of Lawrence Brittain, Kyle Schoonbee, John Smith and Sandro Torrente will have pointed to a sluggish start blowing their prospects in Saturday’s heat but they had a chance to rebound here to Final A, by finishing in the first two against Canada, Romania, Netherlands, Poland and Switzerland. However, it was more of the same as they never headed another boat in the repechage. They now head to Final B
SKATEBOARDING
Men’s Street, Heats: Brandon Valjalo made history by becoming South Africa’s first contestant in his sport which is making its debut at an Olympic Games. Valjalo placed 18th in qualifying and failed to reach the eight-man final. His total score was 16.61, with France’s Aurelin Girauld earning 35.88pts. He had competed with a broken wrist. “He skated well this morning in training but I think the nerves got to him in the actual competition,” said manager Wendy Gila
SURFING
Women’s Heats: Bianca Buitendag, Team SA’s only surfing representative as the sport makes its Olympic debut, took to the water at Tsurigasaki Surfing Beach. She finished 3rd in her heat behind Sally Fitzgibbons (Australia) and Brisa Hennessy (Costa Rica). It was a high scoring heat and she was leading for much of the way and surfed well. But she advanced to round two where she finished second to qualify for round three on Tuesday
SWIMMING
Women’s 100m breaststroke, Heats: Tatjana Schoenmaker, the golden girl of the pool, took to the water in the heats before Monday’s semi-finals. She cruised to victory in an Olympic record 1:04.82sec to reach Monday’s semi-finals and establish her as the gold medal favourite
Men’s 100m backstroke, Heats: Young Pieter Coetze finished 8th in his 100m backstroke heat in 54.05sec, placing him 24th overall. He doesn’t advance to the semi-finals
WATERPOLO
Men’s Group A, preliminary round: South Africa 2 Italy 21. South Africa made their debut at the Olympics for the first time since Rome 1960. They faced off against the No7-ranked team in the world. SA were competitive through the first quarter but the power of the Italians started coming through. The score at the end of the quarters read: 0-2, 2-10, 2-17 and 2-21
STILL TO COME
Hockey
Men’s Pool B – 9.15pm (2.15pm): The action comes thick and fast with South Africa continuing their Olympic campaign with a game against the Netherlands at the Oi Hockey Stadium. The Netherlands lost their opening game 3-1 against Belgium on Saturday, while South Africa also lost 3-1 against Great Britain. However, SA played better than the final scoreline suggests. The other teams in their pool are Canada and Germany, the latter winning their game on Saturday.
Pool standings after 1 game: Belgium 3pts, Germany 3pts, Great Britain 3pts, South Africa 0 pts, Canada 0pts, Netherlands 0pts
Compiled by Gary Lemke. Photo: Anton Geyser