Thuso Mpuang
5 May 2012 – Wenda Theron not only reached the Olympic Qualifying A-standard again in the final of the in the women’s 400m hurdles, but also improved the time she clocked in yesterday’s first round at the SA Open Championships.
After reaching the qualifying time for the first time yesterday, the Tukkie athlete clocked a personal best of 55.36sec, comfortably winning her race ahead of Janet Lawless (Maties) and teammate Anneri Ebersohn, their times 56.44sec and 57.86sec respectively. Theron will now have to reach 55.50sec again at an international meeting in order to meet SASCOC’s requirements to fully qualify for the Olympic Games and she plans on travelling overseas at the end of May to achieve her goal of performing at her very first Olympic Games. Theron must also represent South Africa at the Africa senior Championships in Benin from 27 June to 1 July.
Thuso Mpuang (Kovs) clocked another A-standard in the men’s 200m, adding to the 20.50sec ran in Potchefstroom on 24 March at Yellow Pages II. Mpuang won the race in 20.44sec ahead of Roscoe Engel (Tyg) and Lebogang Moeng (RBA) who finished in 20.64sec and 20.98sec respectively.
Tsholo Thipe today ran another qualifying time in the semi-finals of the women’s 200m when she clocked 23.04sec crossing the finish line. The 25-year-old then proceeded to the final where she won in 23.18sec ahead of Namibian athlete Globine Mayova (23.39sec). Thipe also once before broke the 23.10sec required at Yellow Pages II in Potchefstroom where she won the race in 22.89sec.
Thipe and Mpuang now need to follow the same path as Theron in order to book their spots in the Olympics team.
Another athlete that got very close to his first A-standard (45.30sec) in the men’s 400m race is Ofentse Mogawane (RBA) who comfortably won the race in 45.54sec ahead of Isaac Makwala of Botswana. Sibusiso Sishi from Maties took bronze in 46.37sec.
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