Charl du Toit takes gold for SA

In the space of 10 minutes and with an athletic time of just over 23 seconds, South Africa won three medals on Sunday. Gold, bronze and then silver came in a rush as Charl du Toit, Fanie van der Merwe and Ilse Hayes revelled in the morning sun in Rio in their 100-metre sprints.

Du Toit won the 100m race for the cerebral palsied by a tenth of a second, an odds-on favourite having broken his own world record on Saturday. Behind him, Van der Merwe, the defending champion from London, fought for silver with Egypt’s Mostafa Fathalla Mohamed, but came up short by the smallest of margins. Both were given recorded times of 11.54, but the South African lost out by a thousand of a second.

Ilse Hayes ran a season-best 11.91, but after a good start – her reaction time was 0.140secs – she was overtaken by Ukrainian Lielia Adzhametova, who broke the world record for the second time in two days. It was a third Paralympic silver in a row in the 100m for Hayes.

Du Toit was a middle-distance runner in London, but after he learnt that his distance would not be included in the programme for Rio, he decided that he had better become a sprinter instead. His 11.45 was just off his world record 11.42, and while Saturday’s time was a surprise, winning was not quite.

“I didn’t get a good start. The Egyptian next to me got a good start but I just stayed relaxed and went through. I had to work for this one,” said Du Toit. “My dad always taught me the key to success is to enjoy what you do and you’ll never work a day in your life. I love athletics, I love doing this, and my uncle passed away two weeks ago and I promised him I’d give him a smile.”

He had dedicated his world title to his uncle Johan, who had died just before he left for Rio.

He was shot in a house robbery and spent three months in ICU fighting for his life. “With all the trauma with my uncle being shot, it played a huge role. I’m so thankful that I could dedicate this gold medal to him.

He was a big sports fan and my dad was a big sports fan and I knew what I had to do to give glory to God and to make my uncle proud. I knew what the job was.”

Van der Merwe, a two-time gold medallist in the 100m, confirmed this would be his last 100m in his last Paralympics as he was retiring. He fell as he crossed the line, ripping the skin off the palm of his hand and legs. He had dived to win gold in London, but this time, he admitted, he had just lost his balance.

“I am bleeding everywhere. I dived after the line but I actually lost my balance, it wasn’t really a dive. I actually like diving. The previous time (in London) I was going for it. I knew that I had to give it everything I had. It was a split second before that I knew if I didn’t dive I wouldn’t win.

There is no talk from the visually-imparied Hayes as to whether this will be her last Games. She still has the 400m left to run, an event she took part in back in 2004. The long jump, in which she is a two-time defending champion, was removed from the Rio programme. “My long jump was taken away two years ago now. I knew about it so I just had to prepare for it. It (100m) has been going well.”

South Africa’s mixed coxed fours of Lucy Perold, Dieter Roslee, Shannon Murray, Dylan Trollope and cox Willie Morgan had brought their coach, Marco Galeone nearly to tears by fighting hard to finish second in their repechage to make yesterday’s A final. They took fifth place behind Britain, the US, Canada and Germany. Sandra Khumalo was fourth in the single sculls B final. Chantell Stierman was sixth in the 61kg powerlifting competition.

Alani Ferreira was seventh in her 100m breaststroke heat and will not progress to the final, while Kevin Paul, South Africa’s first gold medallist of the Games, made last night’s 200m IM final.

– Independent Media