South Africa’s rowing team of four members; Sizwe Ndlovu, Matthew Brittain, James Thompson and John Smith were competing against favourites, Denmark, Great Britain and former world champions, Australia who were widely expected to triumph.
“This shows that our South African team in various sport categories are determined to succeed against any challenge. This will earn us respect amongst countries we are competing against. A third gold medal is good news for our country and we hope for more,” said Premier Mokonyane.
The Premier also congratulated the country’s swimmers Chad Le Clos and Cameron van der Burgh who won South Africa’s first two gold medals at the 201 Olympics spectacle.
Le Clos’ win on Tuesday followed that of Pretoria-born Cameron van der Burgh on Sunday night.
Mokonyane said van der Burgh’s performance in the men’s 100m breaststroke final is proof that Gauteng is, indeed, “the Home of Champions”.
“Cameron van der Burgh is our ‘golden boy’ and we are happy that he is flying the South African flag high in London. His exploits in the swimming pool show exactly what young people from our province can achieve with adequate support and self-belief,” Mokonyane said.
Van der Burgh finished his race in a time of 58.46, smashing the previous record by some 0.12 seconds.
Mokonyane again wished the rest of the SA Team well and encouraged the Gauteng Province to be behind them all the way.
Enquiries:
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Cell: 082 373 1146
Premier Mokonyane congratulates SA’s rowing team for winning a Gold medal
Province
