KZN veteran stars in Brazil
South African athletes produced a phenomenal display at the World Masters Championships held in Brazil.
Our athletes won a total of 76 medals to place seventh overall.
The event, which is open to athletes over 30 years of age, ended at the weekend with the South African team amassing 33 gold medals, 19 silver medals and 24 bronze medals.
Five of the gold medals were won by 92-year-old Lucas Nel from KwaZulu-Natal.
Nel secured victories in the 100m, 200m 400m, 800m and 1500m.
Despite such a demanding schedule of racing, Nel just missed out on the world record in the 400m where he clocked one minute 35.64 seconds, a mere 0.6 seconds from the world mark.
Another inspirational performance came from Borge Stannius of Gauteng.
He won gold in the shot-putt, javelin, discus, hammer-throw and weight-throw. Stannius also won the weight pentathlon for a sixth gold medal in the 85-89 age grouping.
Teams from 57 countries competed in the championships which saw USA top the table with 170 medals, ahead of Brazil and Great Britain on 146 and 102 respectively.
(File Photo:Gallo Images)
- Norrie Williamson
Twitter - @ECRSportswave