Stunning double:
• SA now fifth in Commonwealth Games medal table
South African lightning struck Gold Coast several times on an incredible Monday night‚ with Akani Simbine delivering the last of the blows as he won the 100m crown.
Four golds‚ four silvers and a bronze — eight of them coming from speedsters on the track and in the pool — lifted SA to fifth on the Commonwealth Games medals table.
Simbine finally bagged the first major medal of his career as he raced to victory in the 100m at the Carrara Stadium, with compatriot Henricho Bruintjies taking silver behind him to leave Jamaica’s former world champion‚ Yohan Blake‚ battling for bronze. Simbine admitted afterwards that he felt relieved.
“It’s a medal I knew I could do and I could get … it’s just getting my mind to do it, and now I have my first international medal‚ my first international title‚ and now it’s just building on that momentum going for more international medals.”
Simbine said he could not remember anything before the 60m mark.
“Yohan‚ I thought he was going to kick‚ but he didn’t. And then I just saw myself and I literally just went ‘okay‚ I just won this race’‚ and I put my hand up.”
Bruintjies‚ in the lane outside Simbine‚ said his game plan was to pursue his compatriot.
“I told him: ‘I know you’re going to go out fast and I know you’re going to go for the podium‚ so you have to take me too.’
“So, literally, my whole race was Akani‚ Akani. I was just chasing him because I knew if I chase him‚ I’m going to be on the podium,” said Bruintjies.
The pair will next be in action in the 4x100m relay later in the week. “I want to take home two golds‚” Simbine said.
SA’s swimmers delivered three golds‚ the most sensational coming from Cameron van der Burgh’s unexpected triumph in the 50m breaststroke.
The veteran performed the impossible as he downed indomitable Englishman Adam Peaty to win his third consecutive Commonwealth Games 50m breaststroke crown.
Peaty had not been beaten since Van der Burgh edged him by 0.02sec at the previous Commonwealth showpiece in Glasgow, Scotland.
Since then the South African has had to play second fiddle to him at two world championships and the 2016 Olympics‚ but on Monday the old warhorse reclaimed his turf as he touched first in 26.58.
Peaty‚ who had swum a 26.49 Games record in the semifinals‚ was second in 26.62.
Chad Le Clos‚ who won his third gold medal at Gold Coast in the 100m butterfly‚ became only the second man in history — the first since 1974 — to win three Games titles in the same event, the 200m butterfly.
Now Van der Burgh‚ who turns 30 in May, has added his name to that list.
“To be able to come through the years and be able to finish on such a high is really special. Adam and I had a really tough rivalry,” he said.
“He obviously had the upper hand the last couple of years, so to get on top of the podium and see my flag up there and my national anthem being played is going to be‚ when I look back on my career‚ one of the highlights,” said Van der Burgh.
Tatjana Schoenmaker added the 100m breaststroke crown to her 200m gold‚ clocking 1min 06.41sec to break the last of Penny Heyns’s African marks in an Olympic-sized pool.
The usually quiet Henricho Bruintjies and
I TOLD HIM: ‘I KNOW YOU’RE GOING TO GO OUT FAST AND I KNOW YOU’RE GOING TO GO FOR THE PODIUM‚ SO YOU HAVE TO TAKE ME TOO’