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Ambassadors: Physically Disabled
Fanie Lombaard (South Africa)
A big man in every sense of the word, Paralympic superstar athlete Fanie Lombaard was a standout performer at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996, winning gold medals in the shot putt and javelin, and winning both events with world record distances. He also picked up bronze in the discus. The former provincial rugby player added three more gold medals at the Sydney Olympics – in the discus, shot putt and pentathlon – as well as a silver medal in the javelin. In 2002 he excelled at the World Championships in Lille, setting world records in the shot putt and discus. Always smiling, the determined Lombaard is a wonderful role model for all sportsmen and women, be they able-bodied or disabled.
Jane Mandean (South Africa)
A star of South Africa’s strong Paralympic team, Jane Mandean, who competes in cerebral palsy events, has set world records in both the javelin and shot putt. At Sydney in 2000, where South Africa won 38 medals
in Paralympic competition, Mandean claimed bronze in the discus. At the World Championships in Lille in 2002 she won bronze in the shot putt.
Zanele Situ (South Africa)
Zanele Situ achieved a groundbreaking feat when she became the first black South African female athlete to win a Paralympic gold medal. Situ, competing in a category for athletes with spinal injuries, achieved the feat at the Sydney Games in 2000, winning the event in style with a world record throw that bettered the previous mark by over three metres! She followed that up with a silver medal in the discus. Situ, who is paralysed from the fourth vertebra down, said her biggest opponent in Sydney was the 50 000 strong crowd, that left her suffering from a case of nerves. However, once she had her first throw she relaxed and was on her way to making history.
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Zanele Situ became the first black South African woman to win Paralympic gold at Sydney in 2000 |
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