Marathon gold, soccer silver for SA
Brad Morgan
17 October 2003
Loaded with a far bigger All Africa Games squad, especially in athletics, Nigeria has moved above South Africa on the medal table. For that matter, so too has Egypt, although the South African team continues to enjoy success in a wide variety of events, showcasing excellent all-round standards.
It has been disappointing to see South Africa not contesting some athletics events where the standard has been poor or where – as was the case in the women's four by 400 metres relay – as few as two countries competed for medals. There have also been cases where countries have picked up 1-2-3 finishes, which certainly wouldn't have happened - based on knowledge of what South Africa has to offer - had there been a South African athlete in the field.
Marathon gold
This, however, should not deflect from some good performances by South African athletes. Top billing goes to Johannes Kekana for winning the prestigious men's
marathon on a testing hilly course. Africa has for a long time dominated the marathon on the world stage, so to win in the All Africa Games is certainly a noteworthy achievement.
South Africa's men have performed notably better than their female counterparts in track and field, but this has been a noticeable (and somewhat worrying?) trend for some time now.
In difficult wet conditions, Gerhardus Pienaar won the javelin with a throw of 76.95 metres, while Burger Lambrechts took gold in the shot putt. Estelle Viljoen, however, grabbed a gold for the women, capturing the 20-kilometre walk title with ease, while Elizna Naude threw a Games record 57.44 metres to win the discus.
There was disappointment for world number one Mbulaeni Mulaudzi in the men's 800 metres. Mulaudzi was beaten by little-known Samuel Mwera in a slow time that was way outside Mulaudzi's best this year. It should be mentioned, though, that the South African star has endured a very long season,
having participated throughout Europe in 2003.
Future star
Note should be taken of the promising performances of 18-year old Khotso Mokoena. He claimed silver in the triple jump and bronze in the long jump and should, with continued hard work and maturity, become a star.
The Abuja Games also brought the curtain down on the All Africa career of the great Namibian Frank Fredericks, who is viewed as an adopted son by most South Africans. He settled for silver in the 200 metres, just one-hundredth of a second behind the winner, Uchenna Emedolu.
South Africa's women's soccer team excelled, upsetting Cameroon 3-1 to reach the final, where they faced the heavily favoured Super Falcons of Nigeria. It took a goal four minutes from time to beat Banyana Banyana, but it was the closest they had yet pushed Nigeria, who have dominated in Africa in recent years, and it should be considered that the match was played on Nigerian soil too.
There
was disappointment for South Africa's men hockey team. They claimed silver after losing 3-2 to Egypt in the final. Earlier in the competition they had beaten Egypt 2-0.
Racquet sports
The men's and women's squash teams pushed gold medal favourites Egypt hard in the team squash competition, but finally had to settle for silver. After winning gold in the team event, South Africa's badminton players added more medals in the individual competitions, including gold in the mixed doubles for Chris Dednam and Antoinette Uys.
The boxing competition proved a disappointment for South Africa, as only one boxer made it through to the finals. Bongani Mahlangu contested the lightweight final, but was well beaten by Nigeria's Ahmed Sadiq.
Cycling proved to be a strong sport for the South African team. Jeremy Maartens stole the show with a win in the men's 40-kilometre time trial, while Altie Pienaar and Engela Conradi claimed silver and bronze in the
women's 30-kilometre time trial. More medals are likely over the weekend when the road races take place.
Previous All-Africa Games summaries:
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