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Johannesburg – South African middle distance ace Andre Olivier has won the bronze medal at the Fanny Blankers-Koen Games in Hengelo on Sunday.
Olivier led South Africa’s charge at the IAAF World Challenge event where he posted a world qualifying time of 1:45.73.
He started out strong and got involved in a tussle in the final stretch where he was pipped at the post by Poland's Marcin Lewandowski, who took first place in 1:45.46, a hair's breadth ahead of Germany’s Robin Schembera with 1:45.48.
The South African won a painstakingly close battle for third spot as he beat Patrick Ronoh of Kenya by 0.01 seconds.
Olivier was the second South African to meet a qualifying standard for the IAAF World Championships in Beijing later this year after javelin thrower Rocco van Rooyen booked his place at the Athletics SA Invitation meeting in Cape Town on Saturday.
Van Rooyen launched a mammoth through of 85.39m, which put him into the top-five on the South African all-time men’s javelin rankings.
The 22-year-old’s effort was more than five metres further than his previous personal best of 80.10m to earn him a place among the country’s all-time greats.
South African sprinter Akani Simbine produced a fast 10.12 seconds for a silver medal behind Britain’s Ujay Chijindu with his winning time of 10.09seconds with, Chijindu's compatriot Adam Gemili taking third in 10.19 seconds.
World 1500m bronze medallist Johan Cronje in seventh place in his specialist event with a time of 3:36.34 with Elroy Gelant crossing the line behind him with a personal best time of 3:36.34.
In the field events Orazio Cremona finished in fifth place in the men’s shot put with a best attempt of 19.50m while Victor Hogan could also only manage a fifth-place finish in the discus throw with a distance of 62.21m.
Meanwhile, at the Dakar World Challenge meeting on Saturday, Caster Semenya finished in fourth place in the women’s 800m with a time of 2:04.19.
The best result came from the 100m dash with Roscoe Engel and Henricho Bruintjies winning silver and bronze respectively in the short sprint with a tailwind of 5.1 metres-per-second.
Barbados’ Ramon Gittens claimed first place in a time of 10.08 seconds with Engel posting a time of 10.12 seconds while Bruintjies clocked 10.16 seconds.
Bruintjies also won the gold medal in the men’s 200m with a time of 20.71 seconds with Adama Jammeh taking silver in 20.75 seconds with Mark Jelks taking bronze in 20.88seconds.
