The South African men’s 4×400m relay team has qualified for the final after the disqualification of Nigeria during the afternoon session on Friday.
Team SA was involved in four sports at the time and started off the day with four medals, but has realistic hopes of adding to that in the men’s 4x100m relay at the Stade de France on Friday night.
In canoeing, Hamish Lovemore and Andrew Birkett finished 6th in their semi-final of the men’s double kayak 500m.
B-final qualification
They qualified for the B-final, missing out by just 0.19 seconds on a place in the A-final. They finished fourth in the B-final to end their campaign in 12th overall.
In athletics, Team SA’s men finished 8th in their 4x400m relay heat in 3:03.19 and had initially not qualified for the final.
However, in the post-race drama, the referee disqualified Nigeria and reinstated Team SA into the final.
Antonie Nortje ran into trouble at the changeover when he collided with a runner and fell.
Zakhiti Nene had produced the fastest second leg in the race of 44.20, taking the team from 7th to 4th after 800m.
Still on track, Edmund du Plessis finished 4th in his 800-metre semi-final in 1:45.34.
This left him outside the automatic two qualifiers from the heat, and he faced a nervous wait to see if he could qualify for the final.
US leads medal standings
Unfortunately, the two fastest losers came from the third semi-final.
Marione Fourie finished 6th in her 100m hurdles semi-final in 13.01 and did not progress to the final.
In women’s golf, Paula Reto had a round of 76 to go with her opening rounds of 78 and 73 to be tied for 47th on 229 after 54 holes.
The US (30 golds) lead China (29 golds), Australia (18), France (14), and Great Britain (13) in the medal standings.
Team SA is 41st with one gold (Tatjana Smith), one silver (Smith), and two bronzes (men’s Sevens rugby and Alan Hatherly).
