IN THE NEWS
South African athletes making headlines
Wayde ’ s Awards Pile Up
Olympic 400m gold medallist and World record holder Wayde van Niekerk had multiple reasons to celebrate in November . On the 16 th he was named Best Male Athlete of the Rio Olympics at the Association of National Olympic Committees Awards in Doha , Qatar , and then on the 27 th he took home not only the SA Sportsman of the Year award at the South African Sports Awards , but also the coveted overall SA Sports Star of the Year award , for the second year in a row . Wayde was also able to celebrate with his coach , Ans Botha , as she won the SA Coach of the Year award , and amongst the other winners was fellow Olympic gold medallist , 800m star Caster Semenya , who won SA Sportswoman of the Year . Unfortunately , on 3 December Wayde lost out to Usain Bolt for the IAAF Male World Athlete of the Year Award . The Jamaican sprinter ’ s third Olympic gold treble in Rio gave him the edge over Wayde and British distance runner Mo Farah .
Rio Medallists in World Champs Squad
Unsurprisingly , all four of South Africa ’ s Rio Olympic medallists were included in the 38-member ‘ preparation squad ’ for the 2017 IAAF World Championships next August in London , announced by Athletics South Africa on 14 November . Wayde van Niekerk , Caster Semenya , Luvo Manyonga and Sunette Viljoen are all on the list of athletes that already met the international qualifying standards during 2016 for the 2017 showpiece .
Puma Launches School of Speed in SA
In November , Puma launched the South African branch of the School of Speed , a sprinting academy and series of clinics and events to develop young athletics talent in South Africa . The international School of Speed is headed by the World ’ s Fastest Man , Usain Bolt , who has appointed reigning SA 100m champion Henricho Bruintjies as his Vice Principal in SA . The first meet took place in Pretoria on 2
December , with under-16 , -18 and -20 athletes competing over 100m , 200m , 400m and 800m . The innovative series then moves to Cape Town ( Green Point Stadium , 18 January ), Roodepoort ( Ruimsig Stadium , 1 February ), Durban ( Kings Park Athletics Stadium , 18 February ) and Paarl ( Dal Josafat Stadium , 28 February ).
Masters Medal at World Champs in Australia
Team South Africa returned from the IAAF World Masters Athletic Championships in Perth , Australia in November with four world records , 22 national records , 45 medals and an overall eighth place ranking on the medals table . In the women ’ s 70-74 age group , Alette Ungerer set a World Record of 1:13.97 in the 400m sprint , bettering the old mark of 1:15.81 , and Else Meyer achieved a new 20km walk standard of 2:10:58 ( previous mark 2:12:27 ). Another walker , Vey Hildegard , shattered the 75-79 global standard in the 20km race in 2:33:39 , taking more than six minutes off the previous world best , and Burton Haupt , competing in the Men ’ s 54-59 age group , achieved a Throws Pentathlon World Record of 4 800 points , adding 23 points to the previous international standard . Team SA brought home 19 gold medals , 17 silvers and nine bronze medals .
Big Payday for Tri ’ s Richard
Commonwealth bronze medallist and Olympic fourth-place finisher Richard Murray cashed in as he claimed top spot on the podium for the three-day season-ending Island House Triathlon in the Bahamas in November . The prize purse includes a $ US60,000 cheque for the winner – roughly R800,000 at the time – in triathlon ’ s biggest payday . Only the top 10 athletes after the first two days ’ competition qualify for the third and final day , and Richard eventually emerged the winner with a margin of 39 seconds over Australian Cameron Dye .
Images : IAAF , Wikimedia , Reg Caldecott , Janos Schmidt / ITU & Courtesy Burton Haupt
10 ISSUE 90 JANUARY 2017 / www . modernathlete . co . za