SA’s Jo-Ane van Dyk wins silver medal in javelin, Japan's Kitaguchi takes gold

Jo-Ane van Dyk delivered a surprise Olympic medal at Stade de France on Saturday night, taking the women’s javelin silver in a session the more fancied rivals failed to hit their straps. 

Potchefstroom-based Van Dyk, a qualified dietician and an under-20 world championship runner-up in 2016, threw 63.93m on her third attempt to leapfrog into second place — and she was never dislodged. 

Haruka Kitaguchi of Japan won gold on 65.8,0 with Nikola Ogrodnikova of Czechia, a previous European championship silver medallist, taking bronze with 63.68m, the shortest distance to win an Olympic bronze since 1972. 

Van Dyk threw a 64.22m lifetime best in the qualifying round to book her spot in the final, where she flourished like the sunflower tattooed on her ribcage. 

This was Team South Africa’s sixth medal in France, but this it was a medal nobody expected, except for the few who knew her pedigree, and her coach, the incomparable Terseus Liebenberg. 

He mentored Marius Corbett to world championship gold in 1997 and Sunette Viljoen to the 2016 Olympic silver, as well as world championship bronze medals in 2011 and 2015. 

Van Dyk threw 63.93m on her third attempt to move into second behind Haruka Kitaguchi on 65.80 and she was never challenged. 

The men’s 4x400m team lowered the national record to 2min 58.12sec as they finished fifth in a race where the US beat Botswana for gold. 

Wayde van Niekerk didn’t return for the line-up which remained unchanged from the morning heats with Gardeo Isaacs, Zakithi Nene, Lythe Pillay and Antonie Nortje. 

Earlier, Brian Raats cleared 2.17m on his first high jump and crashed out at 2.22m 

Golfer Ashleigh Buhai fought hard for a two-under-par 70 at Le Golf National to finish on three under overall, four shots off the podium. New Zealand’s Lydia Ko won the tournament by two strokes after carding a birdie on the final hole.