Tuks athletes have fine-tuned the art of medaling at the African Games in Ghana.
After nine days of competing, they have won 34 individual medals (9 gold, 13 silver and 13 bronze). The Tuks swimmers were also instrumental in ensuring South Africa won six gold and one silver medal in the relays. Ghandi Jafta was part of the South African women’s cricket team that won gold.
South Africa is currently third in the medal standings with a tally of 92. Egypt tops the log with 156 medals. Nigeria is second with 78 medals. Nigeria has won two more gold medals than South Africa. The respective tallys are 27 and 25.
Caitlin de Lange (TuksSimming) has won seven medals – four individual (2 gold and 2 silver) and three gold in the relays. Catherine van Rensburg (TuksSwimming) has won six medals – five individual (4 gold and 1 bronze) and one gold in the relays.
The 19-year-old Van Rensburg admits she expected to stand on the podium so often.
“We did not taper down at all for the Games. So, I expected to be sluggish in the water. To my surprise, I was not. It did not matter that I did not get to improve on any of my personal best times. The closest I came to doing so was in the 400m-freestyle.”
The Van Rensburg considered herself to be an open-water swimmer. But it changed after the 2022 World Championships.
“It was a reality check for me. It made me realise how much harder I needed to work to be competitive internationally. It is one of the reasons why I have decided to race more in the pool,” said Van Rensburg, who in 2022 won the 5km-race during the SA Open-water Champs in Jeffreys Bay.
Danilo von Ludwiger and his teammate, Leo Williams, lost in the men’s beach volleyball final against Marocco.
“Yes, we did get beaten in the final, but still, we are happy with the result. To finish second out of 21 teams is a decent result,” said the six-year medical student at Tuks.
“The Moroccans were the better team on the day. Unfortunately, we made mistakes at crucial times in the second set. It cost us the match. If we had been at our best, we would have won gold.
“Our dream to compete at the Paris Olympic Games is alive and well. Having seen all the African teams in action, we are excited. Morocco, Mozambique, Botswana, and we will probably be the four countries to beat during the Olympic qualifying tournament. Rwanda and Egypt are decent, but the rest are average. It will be played in Morocco in June.”
The Tuks swimmers who medalled in the individual events at the Games are:
Men: Andrew Ross: Silver (200m individual medley) and bronze (200m freestyle) and(200m breaststroke); Cameron Casali: Bronze (400m freestyle); Clayton Jimmie: Gold (100m freestyle) and silver (50m freestyle); Helgard Muller: Bronze (200m backstroke); Liam Vehbi: Bronze (200m butterfly) and (400m individual medley).
Women: Caitlin de Lange: Gold (100m freestyle) and (50m backstroke). Silver: (50m butterfly) and (50m freestyle); Catherine van Rensburg: Gold: (1500m freestyle), (400m freestyle), (400m individual medley), (800m freestyle). Bronze: (200m freestyle). Georgia Els: Gold (200m individual medley). Silver: (100m breaststroke). Bronze: (200m breaststroke); Hannah Mouton: Silver – (200m freestyle). Bronze: (400m freestyle); Kate Meyer: Silver: (200m breaststroke) and (50m breaststroke). Bronze: (400m individual medley); Leigh McMorran: Silver (200m butterfly);
Tayla Jonker: Silver: (200m backstroke), (50m backstroke) and (100m backstroke)