Akani Simbine finally has his Olympic medal.
He made absolutely sure of that when the baton was safely delivered into his hand by third-leg runner Bradley Nkoana in the 4x100m relay on Friday night.
Speaking about taking to the wet track to run the opening leg in his first Olympic final, 18-year-old Walaza explained: “I'll say it was truly scary, especially when they were calling us to go in. Third leg runner Nortje fell to the track after what Pillay described as an “aggressive changeover”, and while he immediately returned to hit feet and kept running, the team finished last in a time of 3:03.19.
Either way, anchor leg runner Pillay emphasised the closeness of the team. “We run together, we die together. Win or lose one thing that remains is that we still stay consistent, we still stay together,” he said of the team that raced to a silver medal at the World Relays behind Botswana earlier this year.“I'm a bit disappointed in the race,” he said afterwards. “I wanted to get to the final and I really thought I might make it.
Just across the road at the Aquatics Centre, Julia Vincent raised hopes of another medal for Team SA when she was lying third after the third of five rounds in the 3m springboard diving final. place. Vincent is the first ever South African to reach an Olympic diving final, having also contested three World Championships finals and remains a trailblazer for the sport in South Africa.“I wasn't even really watching results, but I knew that I was doing OK.
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