It was not meant to be for South Africa’s middle-distance runner Prudence Sekgodiso as she finished last in the 2024 Paris Olympics 800m final on Monday night.
Sekgodiso started the race well but ran out of steam on the bend of the final lap and threw the towel once she saw that she would not get a medal and then settled for eighth place with a time of 1:58.79.
Great Britain’s Keely Hodgkinson walked away with the gold medal, with Ethiopia’s Tsige Duguma and Kenya’s Mary Moraa grabbing silver and bronze, respectively.
Sekgodiso qualified for the final after impressively finishing second behind Hodgkinson on Monday – a race that raised hopes that she would be one of the favourites to medal.
Despite a disappointing final display, the 22-year-old could not have asked for a better Olympic campaign, as she defied all odds in her first-ever Olympic Games appearance.
Following what was a tense last 24 hours in the track and field, South Africa will shift their focus to the men’s 200m after Wayde van Niekerk and Shaun Maswanganyi booked their spot in the semi-finals.
Their compatriot Benjamin Richardson unfortunately pulled a hamstring during his heat and limped over the finish line.
Van Niekerk, who is the reigning 400m world record holder and Rio 2016 Olympic champion, has committed to the shorter 200m distance in Paris.
“The plan was to stick with the girls for as long as I could. I know I’m not good in the final 100m and when I saw the girls coming past me, I thought I must just keep my head up and keep going,” Sekgodiso said after the race as quoted by teamsa.co.za
“I’m so happy I made the final, come on guys, it means a lot to me. This was a tough tournament, with three races in three day.
“I’m not used to that. Normally I can have a day or two to recover but here I couldn’t. I have to take sleeping pills to sleep and then I wake up late, so the recovery period was difficult for a programme like this.”
