BuaNews (Tshwane)
Proffesor Ndawonde
3 October 2008
Johannesburg — Former South African President Nelson Mandela will on Friday meet the country's Paralympic and Olympic teams to personally congratulate them for their sterling performance at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
According to the Nelson Mandela Foundation, Mr Mandela had requested to see them to thank them for flying the country's flag high during the games, which ended last month.
South Africa's Paralympic team shone at the games, with the likes of Natalie du Toit and Oscar Pistorius. The team earned 21 gold, three silver and six bronze and finished in sixth position.
Ms du Toit, 24, lost her left leg in an accident, but did not let this stop her from bagging five gold medals.
During the closing ceremony, Ms du Toit and visually-impaired Panamanian runner Said Gomez received the Whang Youn Dai Achievement Award, which was initiated at the 1988 Seoul Games to honour athletes who best represent the Paralympic spirit at each Games.
Pistorius, known as "Blade Runner" for his J-shaped carbon-fibre prostheses, bagged three gold medals.
The Olympic team only managed to bring home one silver medal, when Khotso Mokoena came second in the men's long jump. He managed to jump an impressive 8.24 metres.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 BuaNews. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
