Beijing: Mixed fortunes for SA

2008-08-20 19:29

Beijing - Marathoners Norman Dlomo and Hendrick Ramaala arrived in the Athlete's Village on Wednesday hoping to recover sufficiently for Sunday's Marathon race.

Ramaala, who has been training in Albuquerque in the US for the past weeks in the hope of replicating conditions in Beijing, came off 24 hours of travelling, while Dlomo arrived in from his Mpumalanga training base.

Sunday's weather is currently predicted to start with a clear morning becoming cloudy later which should result in relatively low humidity for the race which starts at 07:30 from Tiananmen Square.

Mbulaeni Mulaudzi

In a less than convincing display of tactics in the 800m heats at Beijing's Bird Nest Stadium on Wednesday night, Mbulaeni Mulaudzi did little to substantiate South Africa's hopes that he can defend his Athens silver medal.

The University of Johannesburg athlete went off hard from the gun to settle in second on the shoulder if Britain's Michael Rimmer who pulled the field through the first 400 in 59.9.

Coming out of the penultimate bend Poland's Pawel Czapiewski wound up the pace from back in fifth to secure the inside lane lead which Mulaudzi did well to cover going round Rimmer.

Altough not displaying his typical crispness of acceleration the South African took the lead and with the line beckoning made the classic tactical error of cutting his last two strides, stopping hearts and letting Rimmer through on the inside and giving the fast closing Pole more than a sniff of the line.

The Britain was clocked at 1:47.61, with Mulaudzi on 1:47.64 and the Pole only 0.02 seconds out of the frame.

It was an error that Muluadzi had made before at Helsinki World championships, but one that supporters had hoped and believed he had learnt from.

"I thought I had finished the race; I kicked and past the guy; for me the race was done. I didn't know there was someone coming," said a tired-looking Mulaudzi .

"I started with flu symptoms yesterday, my chest is burning; my whole body at the back, and my joints are aching, so I am just praying tomorrow I wake up feeling better. Maybe it's a problem with the aircon. Sometimes it's too hot inside and then we go to the dining room where it's freezing," he said.

It was not a performance that invoked confidence, but he lives to fight another day, while Czapiewski failed to get one of the eight fastest finisher positions in Thursday night's semifinals.

Samson Ngoepe lined up with a heavily bandaged quad for the fifth heat, but never looked capable of anything remotely like the acceleration required in an 800m.

"I haven't run for two weeks due to the muscle I tore in the training camp two weeks ago doing 200m sprints. I'm unhappy with my time, but when I see times in some of the events perhaps I can get througH, " said Ngoepe who also expressed his concern about his throat.

"I went to the doctor who has given me tablets for it. Overall I'm happy with my performance."

Sifiso Nhlapo

Cyclist Sifiso Nhlapo progressed through to Thursday's quarter-finals on the first day of the BMX competition. Nhlapo, who finished third in the recent world championships, earned a 13th ranking from Wednesday morning's seeding phase which saw American Mike Day record the fastest time of 35.692 seconds. Day is ranked 11th in the world, two above Nhlapo, and went on to score maximum points after winning all three runs in his heat.

Nhlapo, competing alongside Latvian Artus Matisons, Netherlands Raymond van der Biezen and American Kyle Bennett who are fourth, fifth and eighth ranked in the world, was the dominant rider in the second heat. A third place behind Matisons in the first run of the heat set the foundation for his second place behind Van der Biezen in the second run and a win in the third run put the Johannesburg rider as heat leader and through to the semi-finals on Thursday morning.

"I'm ecstatic, man; these are the Olympics and I'm moving on," said Nhlapo who based himself in Europe for the Beijing preparation. "I'm privileged to be one of 32 to make it to the games; staying alive is the name of the game and the dream everyone's got in their heads."

The World ninth ranked rider has the air of confidence and the potential to secure South Africa's second medal of the Games by midday Thursday. "I finished second in Europe and third in the Worlds, so there are no new faces here. I knew what I had to do. These are 32 of the worlds finest, its so clean cut. One mistake and you're out."

Shaun Rubenstein

Canoeist Shaun Rubenstein was knocked out of his 1000m single kayak semifinal when he faded to fourth after leading the majority of the race from a very fast start. Rubenstein was drawn in a loaded final that included two world champions, the Olympic gold and silver medalists, and the junior World Champion.

"I rate myself as one of them, I came here to make a final and so I went out there to make it happen. It's disappointing now, but I can hold my head high."

Rubenstein was first out of the blocks with his lane two draw allowing him to get into his own rhythm and lead for the first 250 metres which he covered in 50.69 seconds. World junior champion, Australian Ken Wallace, had the edge into half way but Rubenstein fought back and looked to have it in the bag, until the last 100 metres where he faded to finish fourth, the first non-qualifying position.

Wallace won the race in 3:33.255 with New Zealand's Ben Fouhy and Swede Markus Oscarsson overhauling Rubenstein for second and third.

"My plan was to go to the front and set a very fast speed. It's not easy to keep these guys at bay; with 150 to go I thought I had it and then a monkey jumped on my back; If you lose concentration for one second, you lose a stroke and the guys get half a length on you which you never get back.

"The last 80m I was just fighting it, but I wouldn't have done anything differently. I raced the way I trained; I came to win this race and the guys were better than me today; I was good enough to win a 900m not 1000 and that was my problem," said the Johannesburg based canoeist who competes in the 500m semi-final on Thursday.

Calvin Mokoto

Calvin Mokoto may not be in contention in his races, but he is certainly gaining experience with each outing. Finishing eighth out of nine boats in his single canoe 1000m race the 19 year old beat Angolan Luis Pacavira and more importantly was more controlled and smooth on the water than his previous races.

"It was very hard. I didn't get the first two strokes right, but I got back into a rhythm with the boat gliding on the water. I could feel that the power was there, but got tired in the last 250, said the Benoni junior. "It was better than the heat."

Mokoto gets another race on Thursday afternoon in the 500m semi-final. Competition is proving to be a vast learning curve for the youngster who has already set goals on a final and medal in London 2012.

- SAPA