South Africa's Prudence Sekgodiso (top) and Switzerland's Rachel Pellaud react after competing in the women's 800m heat of the athletics event at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games South Africa's Prudence Sekgodiso (top) and Switzerland's Rachel Pellaud react after competing in the women's 800m heat of the athletics event at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at Stade de France on Friday. Photo: Antonin Thuillier/AFP
South Africa’s 800m golden girl Prudence Sekgodiso made an impressive start to her Paris Olympics campaign when she finished second in her heat on Friday evening.
Seokgodiso came in behind Daily Cooper Gaspar in a time of 1:59.84, but advanced straight to the semi-finals having finished in the top three in her race.
Prudence Sekgodiso has secured 2nd place in Round 1, Heat 2 with an impressive time of 1:59.84!
— Team South Africa (@OfficialTeamRSA) August 2, 2024
She now qualifies for the semi-finals!
Let's go, TeamSA! 🇿![CDATA[]]>🇦![CDATA[]]>💪#TeamSA #ForMyCountry #Olympics pic.twitter.com/nPuSlosltI
An exhausted Sekgodiso was delighted her race went according to plan and was eagerly awaiting the semi-finals.
“The moment I stepped onto the track, the crowd was just amazing. That’s when the nerves came in. I just said, ‘you know what, I got this. I’m just going to stay according to my play, and that’s what I did,” the 22-year-old said after her race.
Earlier on Friday, Ryan Mphahlele and Tshepo Tshite finished 12th and 13th in their seperate men’s 1500m heats and were eliminated from the games.
With nothing left to play for, the South African men’s hockey side broke their duck in Paris when they hammered hosts France 5-2 for their first win.
The teams were tied 2-2 at the half time break, but the South Africans scored three times in quick succession in the fourth quarter as they secured their victory against the winless French.
In the pool, Rebecca Meder snuck into the semi-finals of the women’s 200m individual medley after finishing her heat in a time of 2:11.96, which was just fast enough.
However, in the semi-final later on Friday, she was eliminated when she finished fifth in a time of 2:10.67, which was not good enough to see her advance to the finals.
In the men’s shot put, Team SA’s Kyle Blignaut was eliminated after finishing 13th in the qualification round.
The 24-year-old managed a distance of 20.78m.
Adriaan Wildschutt finished 10th after a fast 10 000m final as Uganda’s Joshua Cheptegei won the race in an Olympic record time of 26:43.14.
South African swimming icon Chad le Clos, competing in what could be his last Olympics, was eliminated from the men’s 100m butterfly despite finishing second in his heat.
Nursing a shoulder injury, Le Clos, one of the most successful South African Olympians of all time, finished his men’s 100m butterfly heat in a time of 52:24.
In the same heat as Le Clos on Friday, 21-year-old Matthew Sates was also eliminated after finishing seventh in a time of 54:53.
IOL Sport