Hartley wins bronze for Team SA

INLSA

Bridgitte Hartley, of Richards Bay, sheds a tear of joy on getting her bronze medal for the womens kayak single 500m at Eton Dorney, near Windsor, England, on Thursday, August 9, 2012. Picture: Wessel Oosthuizen

KwaZulu-Natal -

“I feel like I need someone to pinch me. It feels so unreal.”

Winning bronze in the Olympic Games hasn’t sunk in yet for Richards Bay canoeist, Bridgitte Hartley, who spoke about her achievement yesterday in the women’s K1 500m event.

“I am really happy. It was the hardest race I have ever had in my life,” the 29-year-old said by cellphone from London.

“I raced to my full ability and it was a major challenge because everyone supporting me back home was telling me to go for gold.”

She won South Africa’s first bronze medal when she crossed the line in 1:52.923 seconds, a split second behind Ukrainian, Inna Osypenko-Radomska.

Danuta Kozak, of Hungary, who finished in 1:51.456, took gold.

When she crossed the finish line, Hartley said she was unsure she had made the top three. “I had a good feeling, but waited until the South African flag was displayed,” she said. “That was when I raised my paddles and became very emotional.”

Hartley, who trains with Pretoria’s Tuks Canoe Club – she is also affiliated to the Zululand Canoe Club and Natal Canoe Club in Pietermaritzburg – said she enjoyed canoeing, as it was a “great” sport with lots of discipline.

She has been involved in different types of sport at school and university, including hockey, athletics, gymnastics, water polo and kayaking, and has attended many South African championship events, as a junior and senior competitor.

Her mother, Vera Sansbury, said from London that the event was “absolutely exhilarating”.

“My daughter is third in the world,” she said.

Sansbury said she was not surprised when Hartley won bronze.

“I expected her to at least be in the top three,” she said. “The race was totally awesome. The vibe and the people were overwhelming. Family support has been great.”

She said her daughter wanted to take a three-week break before she started training again.

Hartley’s Olympics manager, Nerrill King, said her star canoeist had been 100 percent prepared from day one. “It is such an enormous achievement to be in the Olympics, and now we have a bronze medal for South Africa,” she said.

At the time of going to press, South Africa boasted three gold medals, one silver and one bronze, and 20th spot on the medals table. - Daily News with additional reporting by Sapa