Lim maintains high presence in Rio de Janeiro

Among the 24 South African athletes competing in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro are some talented Limpopo sportsmen en women aiming to keep the province’s name high.
They are also among more than 10 500 athletes from 207 countries attending the event that began last Friday and will run until 21 August. The latest reports have that home girl Caster Semenya has withdrawn from the 400 m in order to focus on winning gold in the 800 m next Wednesday. Semenya is unbeaten over 800 m this season and scored a world leading time of 1:53 at July’s Diamond League meeting in Monaco.
The u.23 soccer team boasts two Limpopo players – Gift Motupa and Thabiso Kutumela both former Baroka Football Club players hailing from Ga-Maja and Mokopane respectively.
The team will have their work cut out to reach the knockout stages after losing 1-0 to Denmark in their second Group A match at Mane Garrincha Stadium on Sunday evening. The team was to face Iraq at 03:00 this morning (Thursday) South African time.
South African swimmers Cameron van der Burgh and Chad le Clos have in the meantime already bagged a silver medal each in the swimming pool.
Van der Burgh won South Africa’s first medal at the Rio Olympics in the 100 m breaststroke in a time of 58,69 seconds on Sunday evening. The defending champion in this heat from the 2012 London Games had to settle for silver this time around. Great Britain’s Adam Peaty surged to the gold medal in a new world record time of 57.13.
Le Clos gate crashed the party of the world’s men’s elite freestyle sprinters when he raced his way to a memorable silver in the 200 m final to earn South Africa’s second Olympic medal. Le Clos (1:45.20) came second to Yang Sun who won.

Story: RC Myburgh
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Featured photo: Caster Semenya is a serious contender for gold in the women’s 800 m.