6 May 2008
TWO Namibian athletes have won three bronze medals between them at the 16th Confederation of African Athletics (CAA) Athletics Championship in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, while one of them also posted an Olympic qualifying time.
The three medals were secured by veteran athletes, Agnes Samaria (2) in the 800m and 1 500m, while Stefan Louw, landed one in the long jump.
Louw jumped to a distance of 7.98m on May 1 to finish third out of a group of 15 jumpers while Samaria clocked four minutes and 13,91 seconds (4:13,91) for third place in the 1500m the next day.
Samaria also won bronze in the 800m on the final day of the competition when she ran two minutes and 00,67 seconds behind Kenya's Pamela Chelimo and the irrepressible Maria Mutola of Mozambique.
Samaria had run a time of two minutes and 04,62 seconds (2:04,62) in the semi-final of the 800m event on Saturday.
Samaria's time in the 800m also secured her a B qualifying time for the 800m at the Olympic Games.
The B qualifying time is two minutes and 01,30 seconds while the A qualifying time is two minutes.
Hitjivirue Kaanjuka also made it to the final of the 100m dash but finished out of the medal stakes in fifth place with a time of 10,50 seconds.
He had posted 10,44s and 10,40s in the heat and semi-finals, respectively.
Kaanjuka also competed in the final of the 200m dash on Sunday but finished seventh in a time of 21,28s after posting 21,22s in the semi-finals earlier.
Hans von Lieres and Salomon Tuaire also did not end in the medals stakes, as they finished sixth and eighth in the high jump finals on Sunday.
Both jumped 2,05 metres which is way below their personal best heights.
Triple jumper Roger Haitengi finished in tenth place when he registered 15,84 metres in the final while Tjipekapora Herunga, crashed out at the semi-finals of the 400m for women with a time of 54,00 seconds on May 1.
The competition which ended on Sunday, is held every two years.
This year's edition was a warm-up for the Olympic Games scheduled for Beijing, China in August 2008.
Nampa
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