Brad Morgan
27 February 2008
A number of South African athletes have achieved qualifying standards for the biggest sporting event of 2008, the Olympic Games, which start in Beijing on 4 August. The signs are encouraging after a very disappointing showing at the 2007 IAAF Track and Field Championships, where South Africa failed to win a medal.
Five athletes bettered the 'A' qualifying standard at the Yellow Pages Series meeting in Germiston on 22 February.
Best time of 2008
Mbulaeni Mulaudzi, who ran the best 800 metres time in the world in 2007 of 1:43.74, turned in an excellent early season time of 1:45.25, good for a victory and the best time of 2008 in the world so far.
Not only did he better the 'A' qualifying standard of 1:46.00, but Samson Ngoepe also dipped comfortably under it in 1:45.49.
In the men's 400 metres hurdles, an event that has for some time now been a particularly strong one for South Africa, three athletes went under the 49.20 required for Beijing.
Ter de Villiers won the race in 48.71, with Alwyn Myburgh in second in 48.99, and Ockert Cilliers third in 49.18.
Surprising miss
Surprisingly, LJ van Zyl failed to achieve even the 'B' standard of 49.50. His best time so far in 2008 is 49.71.
With a best of 48.24 in 2007, the 2006 Commonwealth Games and 2007 All Africa Games champion is a good bet to qualify for the Olympic Games. However, earning a place at Beijing will require a time considerably below the qualifying standard because of South Africa's depth in the event.
Khotso Mokoena missed the Olympic 'A' standard by a single centimeter in the long jump, with a leap of 8.19 metres. His effort comfortably eclipsed the 'B' mark of 8.05m.
In 2007, Mokoena twice better 8.20 metres, with a best effort of 8.34 metres, which is the current South African record.
Close, but not quite
Three women
athletes just missed 'A' standards in Germiston, but bettered the 'B' marks.
Sprinter Geraldine Pillay raced to a time of 11.32 in the 100 metres, just three-hundredths of a second outside the Beijing 'A' mark, but seven-hundredths better than the 'B' standard.
Isabel le Roux recorded a superb 23.05 in the 200 metres. For Beijing, she'll need to lower her time to 23 seconds flat, but her time was well inside the 23.20 'B' standard.
Long jumper Janice Josephs won her event with a best leap of 6.63 metres. She needs to add another nine centimetres to reach the Olympic qualifying mark, but her distance bettered by three centimetres the 'B' mark of 6.60 metres.
Previous qualifiers
A further three athletes have improved on 'A' standards, all of them in the javelin.
Robert Oosthuizen, sixth at the IAAF Track and Field Championships in Osaka in 2007 with a career-best throw of 84.52 metres, qualified on 8 February of Durban with a throw of 82.03 metres. He needed 81.80 for Beijing.
Oosthuizen won the World Junior Championships in Beijing in 2006. He will be only 20 years of age when the Olympics come round, so his best years still lie ahead of him with javelin throwers maturing at an older age.
Women's javelin
On the women's side, both Justine Robbeson and Sunette Viljoen have comfortably bettered the qualifying standard of 60.50 metres.
Robbeson, like Oosthuizen a former world junior champion, but in the heptathlon, attained a mark only one centimetre short of three metres over the qualifying standard with a throw of 63.49 in Potchefstroom on 16 February.
Viljoen, who won gold at the last Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, took advantage of a throwers' meeting in Potchefstroom on 26 February to post a distance of 62.24, also well over the required standard.
Hammer thrower Chris Harmse, South Africa's best in the event for many years now, threw 74 metres in Potchefstroom on 1 February to exactly match the 'B' qualifying requirement of 74.00m, but he will need to find another four-and-a-half metres to move up to the 'A' mark.
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