Icexpress Progressive Prosthetics

SA Athletes shine during European Season

The story of SA’s European Disabled Athletics Season started on 25 May at the BT Paralympic World Cup in Manchester, continued through the Netherlands at the Dutch Open in Emmen & IWAS Open in Stadskanaal, and ended with the German leg of the series at the International Sports Meeting in Leverkusen followed by the German Open in Bottrot from11to 13 June.

Approximately four weeks of international competition and travel saw some of our most well-known Paralympic athletes; Oscar Pistorius, Hilton Langenhoven, Fanie vd Merwe, Ilse Hayes and Arnu Fouire (amongst others), pit themselves against athletes from various countries with their sites firmly set on the World Championships in New Zealand next year. All efforts are ultimately in preparation for the 2012 Olympic & Paralympic Games - a ‘Road to London’ that every top athlete wants to be on.

Most memorable moments:

• Pistorius and Fourie taking Gold and Silver in the T44sprint final at the sixth annual BT Paralympic World Cup. They formed part of the ‘Rest of World’ team alongside fellow SA invitees, Fanie vd Merwe and Fanie Lombaard, who competed against Great Britain, the Americas and Europe for the inaugural overall Competition Team Trophy.

• Jean Joubert bettered his own SA Record in the F44 Javelin event not once, but twice! Joubert, who set the SA Record at 37.09 at this year’s Nedbank Nationals, first threw a 41.55m at the Dutch Open and then a 44.14m at the IWAS European Open! He continued performing well in the field events by breaking Dewald Reynders’ F44 Shot put record (12.40m) with a throw of 12.68m in Leverkusen.

• David Roos – a T/F46 competitor – took Gold in the 100m, Gold in the Long jump, and Silver in the Triple jump events at the IWAS European Open in Stadskanaal. His distance of 12.15m in the F46 Triple jump final set a new Africa Record! Roos achieved his ‘Season’s Best’ in Bottrot with a jump of 6.52m in the F46 Long jump.

• T44& 200m sprint athlete, Arnu Fourie, won Gold in every single one of his races except against (T43 runner) Pistorius. Fourie thus took Silver in the 100m at the Paralympic World Cup; took Gold in both the 100 & 200m races at the Dutch Open - setting a new Africa Record in the T44 200m (23.48sec); took Gold in both events at IWAS; and then went on to set a new SA and African Record in the T44in Leverkusen with a time of 11.19 seconds! He went on to take Gold in the 100m and Silver in the 200m, (Gold went to Pistorius), at the German Open in Bottrot.

• Finally, the South African T44/T46 Relay team; consisting of Samkelo Radebe, Arnu Fourie, David Roos, and Oscar Pistorius, set a new Africa Record at the German Open with a time of 43.16 seconds – a mere 0.4 seconds slower than the current World Record!

The three Team Icexpress athletes – (so-called because they are part of a group of amputee athletes that compete with the assistance of ‘Ice-technology’ prosthetics developed by Johan Snyders of Icexpress Progressive Prosthetics) – all achieved new personal bests. Arnu Fouire, David Roos and Jean Joubert were consistently in the medals bringing home 10 Gold, seven Silver & four Bronze medals between them. They also set two new South African & three new African records as the series went on.

The entire SA squad performed superbly and it is clear that plans for the 2012 Games are on track!