SA chase Sydney mark
PARALYMPICS: SASCOC TARGETS 40 MEDALS IN RIO DE JANEIRO SHOWPIECE
Evergreen Ernst van Dyk is back for his seventh Games.
With their Olympic compatriots having bagged 10 medals at the Games last month for the first time in 64 years, South Africa’s Paralympic team will target a record haul at the quadrennial showpiece starting in Rio next week.
The SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) said in July it wanted more than 40 medals from the 44-member team, which would improve the 38-medal haul achieved at the Sydney 2000 Games.
“When it comes to delivery for South African sporting glory, our Paralympic aces have always put their hands up,” Sascoc president Gideon Sam said in a statement after the squad was announced.
“I see Rio as being no different, and we will be building on an amazing legacy left by the previous generation.”
The 62-member SA squad earned 29 medals at the London 2012 Paralympics, finishing 18th in the table.
It was the first time in 20 years the national squad finished outside the top 15 in the overall standings, and as they aim to better that performance, the team will compete in 10 codes at the 12-day Rio spectacle starting on Wednesday.
Veteran seven-time medallist Ernst van Dyk, who will turn out in wheelchair racing and hand-cycling, is set to appear in his seventh straight Paralympics.
Van Dyk is one of 13 individuals in the Rio squad who earned medals in athletics and swimming at the London showpiece four years ago, giving the team valuable experience.
A number of promising young stars will also make their debuts, spearheaded by double-amputee teenage sprinter Ntando Mahlangu.
Swimmer Kevin Paul, who bagged silver in the men’s 100m breaststroke in the SB9 class at London 2012 and enters his specialist event as the reigning world champion, said he was delighted to be in Rio for his third appearance at the Games.
“With the Paralympics taking place once every four years, you create a picture of what it’s going to be like, especially after the Olympic guys have been here already,” Paul told the Sascoc website this week, after arriving at the athletes’ village.
“Once you get here it sinks in and you know that this is what all the training and putting in that work in the pool and gym was for.
“For my part it’s beyond explanation ... and I’m ready to race.”
Former Paralympic F54 women’s javelin throw champion Zanele Situ, turning out at her fifth successive Games, will carry the SA flag at the opening ceremony.