Du Toit makes Olympic history
2008-06-12 15:42
Johannesburg - Natalie du Toit's historic achievement of qualifying for both the able-bodied Olympics and the Paralympic Games dominated the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) team announcement of athletes to compete at the Beijing Olympics in August.
At the second of three selection announcements of Team South Africa, Sascoc president Moss Mashishi said they were immensely proud of Du Toit's achievement.
"Natalie's achievement is tremendous by any standard. We are immensely proud of her and I'm not sure if she recognises just how historic it is. She has put our country on the map in a way which has never been done before.
"We support her effort to compete and to excel in both competitions and we are absolutely confident she will do justice to both."
Among the other sporting codes announced in Johannesburg on Thursday was the men's hockey team. After much controversy about the composition of the team, Sascoc have sanctioned the team with the six players of colour originally selected after the Sports Portfolio Committee had demanded eight players of colour be included in the side.
Targets
"The target agreed with the national hockey federation for black athletes has been achieved," confirmed Mashishi.
Sascoc met with each sporting federation some time ago to discuss their targets and put agreements in place on how many players of colour would make up each side.
Commenting on the final selections, Mashishi said the Olympics were a "non-governmental" games and different criteria applied from those required for the All Africa or Commonwealth Games.
The final announcement of Team South Africa will take place on July 10th.
Athletes announced on Thursday:
AQUATICS: Natalie du Toit and Chad Ho. Management: Rushdee Warley, Dirk Lange, Graham Hill, Karoly Toros, Rick de Mont and Param Naidoo.
BADMINTON: Chris Dednam, Roelof Dednam, Michelle Edwards and Chantal Botts. Manager/coach: Johan Kleingeld,.
CANOEING: Shaun Rubenstein, Jennifer Hodson, Michelle Eray, Nikki Mocke, Carol Joyce, Bridgette Hartely, Calvin Mokoto, Cameron McIntosh, Lindelani Ngidi and Siboniso Cele. Management: Nandor Almasi, Jean-Jerome Perrin and Artwell Mhlophe.
MEN'S HOCKEY: Geoffrey Abbott, Clyde Abrahams, Marvin Bam, Paul Blake, Andrew Cronje, Darren Gallagher, Thomas Hammond, Marvin Harper, Christopher Hibbert, Bruce Jacobs, Thornton McDade, Charles Rose-Innes, Austin Smith, Emile Smith, Ian Symons and Lungile Tsolekile. Management: Desmond Yeats, Gregg Clark, Kurt Cerfontyne and Wayne Hendricks.
WOMEN'S HOCKEY: Tarryn Bright, Cindy Brown, Fiona Butler, Lisa Deetlefs, Leslie-Ann George, Kate Hector, Taryn Hosking, Vuyisanani Mangisa, Lenise Marais, Marsha Marescia, Mariette Rix, Shelly Russell, Vida Ryan, Vidette Ryan, Kathleen Taylor and Jennifer Wilson. Management: Shaune Baaitjies, Jennifer King, Fabian Gregory and Adrian Caralon.
JUDO: Matthew Jago, Marlon August and Patrick Trezise. Manager/coach: Nicola Filipov.
WRESTLING: Heinrich Barnes. Manager/coach: Christo Lottering.
- SAPA