After winning the National Championships in Port Elizabeth on 14 April 2012 in a time of 2:02.68, the Tuks athlete broke the two minute barrier for the first time on South African soil and claimed victory in 1:59.60, just faster than the 1:59.90 required to qualify. The 2009 World Champion and 2011 silver medallist reached the standard for the first time at the World Championships in Daegu and had to do another qualifier locally as per the agreement between SASCOC and Athletics South Africa. This is also the fastest time in 21 years on South African soil in the 800 m for women.
Semenya now joins LJ van Zyl on the list of Tuks athletes who booked their places as Olympic qualifiers.
Khotso Mokoena opened his long jump effort with a jump of 8.29 m in perfect conditions at the ABSA Tuks Stadium, nine cm further than the Olympic A-standard. Mokoena was unlucky in windy conditions in Port Elizabeth last week, as he struggled with his run up and produced a best of 8.13 m with the assistance of a strong backwind.
Mokoena now needs to jump 8.20 m again at an international meeting in order to add his name to the Olympic list. Teammate Mpho Maputha finished second with an opening jump of 7.68 m, while Francois Coetzee, also from Tuks, came third with a jump of 7.20 m. Maphuta also booked his place to the IAAF World Junior Championships, which will be hosted in July in Barcelona, Spain.
Wenda Theron is still after the elusive 55.50 sec cut-off time to qualify for the Olympic Games in the women’s 400 m hurdles, as she completed her race in 56.05 sec. The 23 year-old Tukkie clocked a personal best time of 55.79 sec at the SA Championships in Port Elizabeth on 14 April, but again narrowly missed the qualifying time. Janet Lawless (Maties) and Anneri Ebersohn (Tuks) finished second and third after Theron. Their times were 57.29 sec and 58.25 sec respectively.
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