Caster smashes mark set by Zola
Record-breaking run bags ninth gold for SA, while Le Clos earns 17th Games gong
CASTER Semenya finally broke Zola Budd’s 1 500m national record as she landed South Africa’s ninth gold of the Commonwealth Games in Australia yesterday. Team SA bagged three medals in Gold Coast on the day‚ and the visually impaired bowlers secured an effective fourth by winning a spot in today’s final with the last delivery of their semifinal against Wales.
Arguably the most dramatic performance came in the last race of the gala, where Chad le Clos unleashed a display of immense power to set up the 17th gong of his career‚ a bronze in the 4x100m medley relay.
Brad Tandy‚ part of the foursome‚ also added a silver in the 50m freestyle earlier in the evening.
South Africa ended the day in fifth place on the medals table with nine gold‚ six silver and six bronze‚ one spot ahead of Canada.
Semenya‚ the Olympic and world 800m champion‚ set herself up for a golden double after winning the 1 500m in a 4min 00.71sec Games record that knocked more than a second off Budd’s 4:01.81 national mark from 1984.
“I knew in the last lap the record is gone‚ I just have to maintain the pace‚” Semenya said.
“I know I’m able to go under four minutes now so I don’t have to worry a lot about that now in training. I just have to fix some errors.”
Semenya ran with her usual confidence‚ sitting in fifth place behind leader Beatrice Chepkoech of Kenya before making her move with 250m to go.
When she attacked‚ nobody could respond‚ although the two medallists behind her both set personal bests‚ Chepkoech 4:03.09 and Melissa Courtney of Wales 4:03.44. Semenya competes in the 800m heats tomorrow with the final set for Friday.
Le Clos dived into the 4x100m medley relay for the third butterfly leg with his team in fourth spot.
He torpedoed the Gold Coast pool in 50.10sec – nearly a second faster than the next quickest and‚ more crucially‚ nearly three seconds quicker than the Scottish butterfly guy.
That gave Tandy a handy cushion for the final leg as Scotland’s 100m freestyle Games champion‚ Duncan Scott‚ tried hunting him down‚ cutting that by more than two seconds to just 0.36sec.
Le Clos leaves Gold Coast one short of the all-time record of 18 Games medals‚ shared by two shooters.
Earlier in the evening‚ Tandy finished second in the 50m freestyle behind England’s pre-race favourite Ben Proud‚ in a race that featured three Englishmen and three Australians.
Tandy clocked 21.81sec‚ nearly half a second behind Proud (21.35)‚ but he was pleased with the result.
“Performance-wise‚ I would say maybe [one of my] top three‚” he said.
On the bowling green‚ Nozipho Schroeder and Philippus Walker secured a medal after beating Wales 11-9 in a contest that went down to the last bowl. “That was gut-wrenching‚ to say the least‚” skip Walker said. “To do it on the last bowl‚ it wasn’t easy.” But to lift the gold tonight they will have to get past the favourites‚ Australians Lynne Seymour and Jake Fehlberg.
Antonio Alkana finished fifth in the 110m hurdles in 13.49‚ slower than his heats effort of 13.32‚ which would have earned him bronze.
There was little else for SA to enthuse about on the day.
Their last remaining boxer was eliminated‚ and the women’s hockey team lost 0-1 to India for their second defeat in four matches.