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News14 Sep 1999


South Africa dominate field events on first day of All Africa Games

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South Africa dominate field events on first day of AAG
Mark Ouma for the IAAF

14 September 1999 – South Africa underlined their dominance in field events on the first day of the track and field athletics competition at the All Africa Games (AAG).

The hosts won six of the nine medals that were up for grabs on the first day of the athletics competition. Namely in the women’s javelin and pole vault, and the men’s shot put and hammer throw. South Africans also won two out of the three gold medals in the events for disabled athletes.

Making her debut with the new women's javelin Liezel Roux gave South Africa its first gold medal by throwing 49.38m. Aida Sellam (Tunisia) was second with 48.91, while Sorochukwa (Nigeria) won the bronze medal with a throw of 48.24.

"This is the first time l have ever competed with the new javelin for women.

We used the old javelin at the SA championships in March as the new implement was only officially introduced in April. By that time the domestic track and field season in South Africa over.

"This victory is a great relief to me as l had to pull out of the team just before the start of the last AAG in Harare in 1995 when l sustained an elbow injury. I hope this is the start of better things to come in my career," said Roux.

Burger Lambrechts (19.50) lead a South African sweep of the shot put with Jannus Robberts (19.16) and Karel Potgieter (18.90) taking the silver and bronze medals respectively.

Twenty three year old Rika Erasmus eclipsed Africa record holder Elmarie Gerryts to win gold in the women's pole vault. Although they tied at 3.60m, Eramus carried the day on a count back of their earlier performances.

Chris Harmse comfortably won the hammer throw with a 74.75 effort. Algerian Samir Haouam was second with 65.80, ahead of Egypt's Yamen Abdelmonem (65.25).

Ethiopia's Assefa Mezegebu won the men's 10,000m as the race went by the form book.

Mezegebu, bronze medallist at the world championships last month, held off Kenya's David Chelule, ninth in Seville, with Ethiopia's Habte Jifar third.
Jifar led with just under two laps to go and, with 500m left, South Africa's Hendrick Ramaala made a dash to the front, but Mezegebu was simply too strong.

Namibian Frankie Fredericks shrugged off a sciatic nerve injury to coast into the 100 metres final.

Fredericks, 31, qualified as seventh fastest for Wednesday's final in 10.27 seconds at the high altitude Johannesburg Stadium.

The double Olympic silver medallist will face a stiff challenge for the African crown from Nigeria's Deji Aliu, who recorded the best time of 10.11, and 200 metres world championship bronze medallist Francis Obikwelu, who clocked 10.21.

Fredericks, Africa's greatest sprinter, remained confident ahead of the final: "Anything short of gold at these championships will be disappointing," said Fredericks.

Obikwelu said Fredericks was the man to beat, "I think we will see something under 10 seconds in the final,' Obikwelu said. "Frankie is still the man to beat but I'll give it my best shot.'

In the competition for the disabled athletes, Javelin thrower South Africa's Fanie Lombaard (class 42/44) and 200m sprinter Neil Louw (class 46) gave the host country an additional two gold medals in their events. Lombaard threw the implement 49.34m, while Louw clocked 23.11 seconds in the 200m. Nigeria's Patricia Nnagi won the women's Class 54 200m in 33.81 seconds.

For results see the All Africa Games Official Web Site

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