The capital of France is once again under the spotlight as the 2024 Paralympic Games are now in full swing in Paris.
It goes without saying that Team SA will go bolder and seek to better previous hauls as they compete for their fair share of the 549 gold medals up for grabs.
South Africa is being represented across nine sporting codes, with a host of athletes tipped as medal hopefuls expected to bring to a halt the decline in Paralympic medal returns.
Currently, Team SA consists of three medallists from the 2020 Tokyo Games in Pieter du Preez (cycling, one gold), Louzanne Coetzee (athletics, one silver, one bronze), and Sheryl James (athletics, one bronze).
Sunday World looks at some of the Paralympians who will be leading the medal hopefuls for Team SA:
Mpumelelo Mhlongo (T44 100m and long jump): The T44 world record-holding Paralympian will be aiming to break more records and will set his sights on the 100m final tonight at 7:30pm.
Mhlongo has one of the most touching stories, in which he was at the receiving end of the stigma surrounding people living with disability in his township.
“I grew up in the township, where there was a lot of stigma around people with disabilities. I not only felt the brunt of being teased by other kids but also being ostracised by family members,” Mhlongo said building up to the Paralympics.
“However, thanks to sport, I became known as the fastest kid in the neighbourhood. For me, this truly highlights the power of sport, in that it enabled me to help change the world for the better, just by doing what I love.”
Kgothatso Montjane (wheelchair tennis): Three-time Grand Slam champion Kgothatso Montjane will be eyeing her first Paralympic medal when she starts her campaign against China’s Luoyao Guo.
Montjane is currently ranked number eight in the world and was seeded 7th in the women’s singles draw.
Standing in her way to glory is Dutch top seed Diede de Groot, whom Montjane is likely to go up against should she progress to the quarterfinals.
Puseletso Mabote (100m and long jump): It is unusual for a nation to place its medal hopes on a teenager and that is fortunately the case with Mabote, as the 19-year-old is amongst the medal hopefuls at the Paralympic Games this year.
Mabote will be competing in his second Paralympics and stands a great chance of clinching a medal in the men’s T63 100m sprint.
The 19-year-old is currently doing his matric at King Edward VII School in Johannesburg and will be vying for glory in Paris like fellow teenager Bayanda Walaza, who bagged himself a silver medal in the 4x100m relay recently.
Alani Ferreira (100m butterfly, breaststroke, 200m and 400m freestyle): In what will be her third appearance at the Paralympic Games, the versatile swimmer Alani Ferreira will also be coveting a podium finish in Paris.
“Rio was my first Paralympic Games, so it was a learning curve for me. I didn’t make a final, unfortunately, but I gained some good experience, and then in Tokyo, I didn’t achieve what I wanted to,” Ferreira said in a recent interview.
“I also did not manage to even make a final, so I’m hoping to do better now in Paris, and hopefully make the podium in the 100m breast.”
Other para-swimmers who will be competing for gold inside the pool are Christian Sadie, Nathan Hendricks, and 37-year-old veteran Kat Swanepoel.
The Paralympics Games got underway on Wednesday and will end on the 8th of this month.
Something that may motivate the athletes is the monetary side of things after SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) president Barry Hendricks confirmed that the Paralympians’ incentives for medallists along with their support staff (guides, etc) are the same as for the Paris Olympics athletes.
