SA firefighters shine at S Korea games
LOCAL firefighters showed the world their mettle when they won 10 gold medals at the World Firefighter Games in South Korea.
They competed against 6 000 men and women from 33 countries in about 75 sporting events.
The games, hosted last month, is an international sporting event initiated by a committee of international firefighters as an alternative to the World Police and Fire Games.
It is held biennially to promote the camaraderie of firefighters through competition in sport. It comprises a variety of individual and team sporting events, including some which are specific to the firefighters’ emergency service role.
A team of eight South African firefighters, five of them from Cape Town, achieved great success at the event.
Two members were from Nelson Mandela Bay and one retired firefighter was from Durban.
The team won 26 medals, comprising 10 gold, 12 silver and 4 bronze.
The South African team was ranked 13 overall in terms of medals won.
Francis van der Byl, divisional commander for Milnerton said: “The achievement was a truly remarkable feat by such a small team.
“The games attracted up to 6000 sporting men and women… It was a huge success, with Korea being an unbelievably fantastic host in all aspects, with friendly and helpful volunteers and officials contributing to this.”
Van der Byl added that the Cape Town team were looking forward to the next Fire Games in Aalborg, Denmark, in 2020, to which they hope to take a larger contingent of sporting firefighters.