Chad Le Clos and Tatjana Schoenmaker doubled South Africa’s gold medal haul at the Commonwealth Games on Saturday, lifting the nation to fifth on the medals table on the third day.
Veteran swimmer Cameron van der Burgh and weightlifter Mona Pretorius added bronze medals on SA’s most lucrative day so far in Gold Coast.
Team SA have four gold and three bronze medals.
Le Clos, just 18 when he won his first Games 200m butterfly crown at Delhi 2010, triumphed in this event for the third time in a row.
“The king is back,” he joked with journalists afterwards. “I wanted to go out hard, control the third 50m … and then I knew, with respect, the race was over at the 150m.
“Obviously it was painful but I wanted to make sure I was comfortably winning.”
The crowd went wild on the final lap to try spur on their second-placed hope, David Morgan, but to no avail. “I heard the crowd pick up a bit so I thought they were catching me, so I was bit nervous.”
He needn’t have been. Le Clos touched in 1min 54.00sec to break his own Games record.
Schoenmaker became the first SA female to make a Games podium since 2010 when she won the 200m breaststroke, clocking 2:22.02 to smash more than a second off Suzaan van Biljon’s African record.
At the lawn bowls, Colleen Piketh staged a magnificent comeback in the women’s singles quarterfinal against Australia’s Karen Murphy, returning from 1-7 down after six ends to win 21-19.
She plays defending champion Jo Edwards in the semifinal on Sunday and win or lose she will compete in one of the two medal matches later in the day.
The women’s four triumphed 16-8 over New Zealand in their playoff, but the men’s pair went down 14-15 to Cook Islands.
The netball team beat Northern Ireland 49-35, and the women’s hockey side drew 1-1 against Malaysia.
The men’s hockey team were beaten 0-4 by hosts Australia.
Chad and Tatjana give SA two more Gold Coast gold medals
Chad Le Clos and Tatjana Schoenmaker doubled South Africa’s gold medal haul at the Commonwealth Games on Saturday, lifting the nation to fifth on the medals table on the third day.
Veteran swimmer Cameron van der Burgh and weightlifter Mona Pretorius added bronze medals on SA’s most lucrative day so far in Gold Coast.
Team SA have four gold and three bronze medals.
Le Clos, just 18 when he won his first Games 200m butterfly crown at Delhi 2010, triumphed in this event for the third time in a row.
“The king is back,” he joked with journalists afterwards. “I wanted to go out hard, control the third 50m … and then I knew, with respect, the race was over at the 150m.
“Obviously it was painful but I wanted to make sure I was comfortably winning.”
The crowd went wild on the final lap to try spur on their second-placed hope, David Morgan, but to no avail. “I heard the crowd pick up a bit so I thought they were catching me, so I was bit nervous.”
He needn’t have been. Le Clos touched in 1min 54.00sec to break his own Games record.
Schoenmaker became the first SA female to make a Games podium since 2010 when she won the 200m breaststroke, clocking 2:22.02 to smash more than a second off Suzaan van Biljon’s African record.
At the lawn bowls, Colleen Piketh staged a magnificent comeback in the women’s singles quarterfinal against Australia’s Karen Murphy, returning from 1-7 down after six ends to win 21-19.
She plays defending champion Jo Edwards in the semifinal on Sunday and win or lose she will compete in one of the two medal matches later in the day.
The women’s four triumphed 16-8 over New Zealand in their playoff, but the men’s pair went down 14-15 to Cook Islands.
The netball team beat Northern Ireland 49-35, and the women’s hockey side drew 1-1 against Malaysia.
The men’s hockey team were beaten 0-4 by hosts Australia.
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