Cape Town - The dust has not yet settled on South Africa’s Olympic successes, but already all eyes are turning to the Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in which the Western Cape will be well-represented when they begin in less than two weeks.
Definitely worth keeping an eye on at the Games, which run from September 7 until 18, are wheelchair racer and hand cyclist Ernst van Dyk, the Laureus World Sports Awards winner for Sportsperson with a Disability of the year for 2006 who will be going for gold next month, and Justine Asher, one of only a handful of female paracyclists in the country and one of the world’s top women’s H2 class competitors.
Asher, of Noordhoek, said this week although she would be competing against women in a class above her own, she was still going for gold.
“My class is combined with a class above, so it will be interesting to see how things play out. But I certainly will be on that podium and I hope it will be for the gold medal.”
She was still busy preparing for the event, she revealed, but was leaving Cape Town on Tuesday and would use the time in Rio before the Games “to sharpen my game so I can bring home the gold”.
Others from Western Cape include swimmer Achmat Hassiem, the two-times paralympian who took bronze in the 100m butterfly at the London 2012 Paralympics, and Charl du Toit, the 100m and 400m athlete with cerebral palsy who won bronze at the World Championships in 2013 and silver at the same event two years later.
Hassiem set a new African record of 57.76 seconds in the 2012 100m butterfly and said he was working hard to ensure gold was the only prize the South African paralympians would bring home this year.
Du Toit, also broke world record and African record in the 100m and 400m this year.
He said his first Paralympic experience four years ago had been a learning curve and that he was now more than ready to change the world’s perceptions about disabled people.
He was ready to show other countries “South African athletes compete with heart... we are ready and we will bring home the gold”.
“I will also appreciate the love of the games much more this year. I worked really hard to get to this stage and the team has also helped a lot because of the brilliant team spirit everybody has.
“I hope all the other athletes realise that being part of the games is the ultimate challenge one can be part of and that they treasure it and work to bring home as many gold medals as possible,” said Du Toit.
Hilton Langenhoven, 200m and long jump competitor, won three gold medals in Beijing in 2008, silver at the 2006 Commonwealth Games, and silver at the 2004 Athens Paralympics.
Ilse Hayes took home the gold in the 400m at the summer Paralympics in Beijing in 2008, and Anru Fourie won gold at the 2012 London Paralympics, running the third leg as part of the South African 100m relay in a world record time of 41.78 seconds
At an event to bid farewell to the competitiors at the Royal Cape Yacht Club last weekend, Sport and Cultural Affairs MEC Anroux Marias commended the Western Cape athletes, callingthem the “creme de la creme” of the country and their respective communities.
She said South Africa was fully behind them.
Some team members are already in Rio, and the rest will leave on Tuesday.
Weekend Argus