South Africans were filled with pride on Saturday after Anrune Weyers and Ntando Mahlangu claimed gold medals in their respective categories at the Tokyo Paralympics.
That special moment when Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika plays in the stadium and you just can’t hold those tears back ???❤️
? @rogersedres #Gold#TeamSA#Paralympics pic.twitter.com/dsPEC0eArD
— Team South Africa (@TeamSA2020) August 29, 2021
Weyers won gold with a time of 56.05sec in the women’s 400m T47 final and shared her thoughts on her stellar performance to TeamSA by saying: “This one is special. The journey here was not easy… This medal represents so much of what I’ve been through. It’s my first Paralympic gold, and it will always be special. I get emotional when I start speaking about Covid. I had Covid in June.
“So many people have lost their lives and so many people are still struggling with it. So many people have lost someone. That’s why I’m so emotional … those people are not here anymore. Thankfully, I’m not struggling to breathe and I’m not struggling to move any more and the gold is testimony to that and I’m thankful for God being with me.”
Mahlangu took a big leap of 7.17m in the men’s T63 long jump to give him the gold and set a new world record. He edged out German Leon Schaefer’s 7.12.
“After I jumped the 7m I got a bit too excited. I started to do other things. I was taking them slowly and my back wasn’t feeling great, but I didn’t want to tell my coach,” Mahlangu told TeamSA.
“Before the last jump I checked with my coach. He said that I should just stop what I’m doing and jump, but he told me in a straight way. I knew it was now or never. I was calm. I knew my last jump I’d give it my best. I said a prayer, ‘If this is the time, let’s do it … if not, we take the next event.’ I think I was answered.
“I went hard, sjoe, my bum is very sore from landing, but I got the gold medal and the world record and that’s great, it’s great positive news for South Africa,” he adds.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa congratulated Weyers and Mahlangu on their outstanding achievement.
?? Congratulations to our star athletes Ntando Mahlangu and Anrune Weyers for securing #TeamSouthAfrica‘s first medals at the @Tokyo2020 #Paralympics earlier today. Ntando took Gold in the Men’s Long Jump T61 with a new world record and Anruné won the women’s 400m. Outstanding! pic.twitter.com/QCPucFVivt
— Cyril Ramaphosa ?? #StaySafe (@CyrilRamaphosa) August 28, 2021
Congratulations to our golden duo! Have a look at what they had to say regarding their performances:
Us: @AnRUNel and Ntando, thoughts on the gold medal performances please? ???
Them: pic.twitter.com/4rcbms1vn1
— Team South Africa (@TeamSA2020) August 29, 2021
Picture: TeamSA