SA snap up three medals

Another three medals came South Africa’s way over the weekend with a full house of gold, silver and bronze at the IPC Athletics World Championships in London.

It was Dyan Buis (above), twotime Paralympian and already a gold medallist earlier in the competition over 200m, who led the way with a great victory in the T38 men’s 400-metre final.

He clocked 50.87sec for the win, a season’s best for the Stellenbosch-based athlete.

Running in lane one, he beat Colombia’s Dixon Hooker Velasques (51.18) into the runners-up spot.

In the same race, Buis’ compatriot, Union Sekailwe, was one spot outside the podium places in 54.04.

“One of my main contenders, Hu from China, was disqualified and to be honest it was a bit of a relief, although I feel really bad for him,” said Buis about his race.

“Because all the athletes were outside me, I could pace myself nicely. I went out hard for the first 50m and just used my momentum and systematically accelerated from 50 to 200m.

“Then I gave it all around the bend, where they cracked. But the Colombian stayed all the way and my legs started getting tired. I still managed to keep momentum and got over that line first. It was a very, very close race.”

A triumphant Buis went on to tell Team SA: “It feels fantastic to be champion in two events again, and thanks must go to everyone behind me, my physio, my coach, my conditioning coach, my wife, child, my school (AF Louw Primary in Stellenbosch). The support from everyone means so much, and not forgetting Sascoc and the Opex programme as well as adidas SA.

“When I finished, it was very special when the young kids came running over to give me high fives etcetera – very, very special. As was the chance to sing the national anthem twice at one championships. What an honour.

“Overall, I’m thankful to walk away from a successful championship with two gold medals. I’m a lucky man. Now I’m looking forward to going home and starting to think of preparations for next year’s Commonwealth Games. I’ll be focusing on the 100m there, the possibilities are endless.” – ANA

It was very special when the young kids came running over to give me high fives.

Dyan de Buis SA paralympian