For 15 young athletes, who are also pupils at Muriel Brand School, this year’s Nedbank National Athletics Championships for the Physically Disabled and Visually Impaired turned out to be a shiny affair.
The championships were held in Bloemfontein, from March 18 to 24.
The team brought home 20 gold, 20 silver and two bronze medals, with Natasha Meyer’s South African Record (06.81m) in the girls under-18 javelin F33 final being an added bonus.
Gift Sifunde, a beneficiary of the Jumping Kids Prosthetic Fund, a charity that provides young amputees with prosthetic equipment to participate in sport, made the most of his first appearance on blades.
Sifunde (T42), who also participated in last year’s event, but in the T40 (dwarfism) class, won gold in the men under-18 100m (19.92s), adding a silver in long jump (2.60m, wind).
Gold, and the new South African record, went to Obed Lekhehle for his leap measuring 3.45m.
Rita Redelinghuis won three gold and one silver in the girls under-16 T/F38 division, and Tiffany Olckers won three silver and one gold in the same class and events as her team mate.
“We are happy with our results this year,” said team manager Elmarie Rossouw.
“We see it as a 100 per cent success rate, since every single athlete came home with at least one medal.”
