Beijing - No one in the South African Paralympic team will admit it, but along with the rush of gold medals that has flown into their coffers, the team are rather excited about the very real prospect of winning their own version of the Tri-Nations in Beijing this weekend.
It could all come down to Oscar Pistorius in the 400m on Tuesday, the final race to be held in the track and field programme at the Bird's Nest.
Again the call from the South African army is "once more on to Beijing, dear friends".
New Zealand have already been accounted for and - with just five gold medals - are barely holding on to a place in the top 20.
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The final, unlike the rugby epic in Brisbane last weekend, is between SA and Australia, with the two just a few medals apart in the top 10 of the table.
"I'd rather not comment on that," said Les Williams, South African team chef de mission, when asked about the possibility of beating Australia. "I've got some friends in Australia - I don't want to make enemies out of them."
He said he had been impressed with the spirit of the team and how "everybody is everybody's friend. The results that have come from that were to be expected, but we are thrilled.
"If you look at the size of the team, compared to some of the other teams, then we are more than happy with how they have performed."
In Athens, the SA team finished 15th overall after winning 15 gold medals. In Beijing, with China and Britain fielding such large and strong teams, many of the medals the Australians might have hoped to win have headed to the current and future hosts of the Olympics and Paralympics.
By the end of Monday, SA had 17 golds and were eighth on the medal table - well behind the top three of China, Britain and the US.
Now the South Africans are locked in an enticing battle with the Ukraine, Russia, Canada and Australia to finish fourth overall.
Ukraine are favourites with 23 golds and are hoping not to be overtaken by Russia.
Australia had 20 gold medals, with Canada on 18 and SA and Russia even-pegging on 17.
SA will be pinning their hopes of a late rush on Tuesday from Hilton Langenhoven and Fanie van der Merwe.
"Fourth would be nice," said a team insider, "but beating Australia would also be sweet."
- This article was originally published on page 1 of The Star on September 16, 2008
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