Three of South Africa’s best inter-varsity sports competition athletes have won medals in Glasgow, which ended on Sunday August 3.
University of Johannesburg athletes Zarck Visser and Rushwal Samaai took silver and bronze respectively in the long jump, and the University of Free State’s Wayde Van Niekerk took silver in the 400 metres. These remarkable achievements prove that Varsity Sports is a world-class platform for South African sports talent.
Now in its 84th year, The Commonwealth Games (formerly known as the British Empire Games and the British Commonwealth Games), is an international, multi-sport event involving athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The games are the third largest multi-sport event in the world, after the Olympic Games and the Asian Games.
Samaai’s 8.08 metre leap propelled him into third place behind Olympic British champion, Greg Rutherford, who is five years his senior, and teammate Zarck Visser, who took silver. Commenting on his achievement, Samaai said, “It’s a huge breakthrough in my career. I’m only 22.” Guy Loxton, Varsity Sports Marketing Executive said, “Often it’s about the opportunity we give athletes like Samaai to excel, and the resultant recognition they receive. Varsity Sports is enabling promising young athletes to take on greater challenges,”
Visser reinforced his teammate’s assertion and said, “It really was a great breakthrough. I told Rush that qualifying was the most important thing. Once you’re in the final, the fun really begins. I know what talent I have and I think I could have got gold, but tonight I had to settle for silver. Now we have to work towards winning gold and silver at next month’s African Championships in Morocco.”
Now a third year transport-management student at UP-Tuks, Visser holds the Varsity athletics record for long jump. He was ranked first in South Africa and fifth in the world in 2013.
Wayde van Niekerk’s magnificent performance in the 400 metre final won him the silver medal, with Olympic champion Kirani James from Grenada taking gold and setting a new Commonwealth Games record. The 22-year-old Van Nierkerk finished in 44.68 seconds, just ahead of Lalonde Gordon of Trinidad and Tobago. Shortly after his race, Van Niekerk commented, “It was tough! I had a fast start because I know the first 200 metres is my forte, and I also know that Kirani has a very strong finish. My goal was to place in the top three. It was close though, and I could hear Gordon coming up on my inside. I had to kind of dive across the finish line. I think the fact that I ran the 200 metre first round this morning helped a bit because it loosened up my legs. Now I’m looking ahead to the African Championships. It’s great to win my first Commonwealth Games medal. I feel that a door has now opened for me.”
Van Niekerk, a third year BA Marketing student at the University of Free State (Kovsies), participated at all the Varsity Sports athletics events this year. He went on to achieve second place in the 400 metres at a Diamond League event in New York, breaking the 15-year-old South African record.
