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Maties win gold, silver and bronze at Paralympic Games
Author: Pia Nänny
Published: 11/09/2016

It was gold, silver and bronze for three Maties Parasport athletes at the Paralympic Games in Rio this weekend.

Charl du Toit, who is studying towards an honours degree in Education Management at Stellenbosch University, took the T37 100m crown on Sunday after breaking his own world record during the heat the day before.

Du Toit won the second of the two heats on Saturday in a time of 11.42 seconds to improve the world record he set in Switzerland earlier this year by 0.01 second.

This is Du Toit's first gold medal at a major event and even the commentators mentioned the smile on his face as he covered the distance.

"There are no words to describe how thankful I am for this moment. All glory to God. It was also a privilege to run Fanie's last race with him today. He is a legend and one of my role models. Before, during and after the race I just experienced an immense amount of joy," said Du Toit. 

He will compete in the heats of the 400m on Thursday 15 September.

Fanie van der Merwe, Du Toit's training partner and two-times defending Paralympic champion in the T37 100m, won bronze.

This was Van der Merwe's last race. He has won three Paralympic gold medals in his athletics career – two in Beijing (T37 100m and 200m) and one in London (T37 100).

"What a privilege to end my career on a high like this. I experienced so much joy – this whole experience is a gift from God."

A third athlete from the core training group coached by Dr Suzanne Ferreira from the Department of Sport Science at Stellenbosch University – Ilse Hayes – won silver in the T13 100m final. The race was won by Leilia Adzhametova from the Ukraine in a world-record time of 11.79 seconds. Hayes finished in 11.91 seconds.

This is the third time that Hayes has won silver in this event at a Paralympic Games – she was the silver medallist in the 100m in London and Beijing as well.

"What a special day. I am grateful to God for His grace and that lap of honour with Charl and Fanie – friends and teammates – was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. To my coach, Suzanne (Ferreira), I can only say that you are amazing and I appreciate you so much."

Another Matie, Arnu Fourie, came fourth in the T44 100m on Saturday.

Ferreira said she feels very blessed: "It is so special to experience the gratitude and joy the athletes race with. A medal is the cherry on the cake and makes the celebrations so much sweeter."

Sean Surmon, head of the High Performance Unit at Maties Sport, said he feels very privileged to have been part of these athletes' support team.

"It's been four years of hard work, dedication and a serious amount of resilience and it has paid off amazingly!"

Wentzel Barnard, manager of the Maties Parasport Club, is unbelievably proud of the athletes, as is Ilhaam Groenewald, Chief Director: Maties Sport.

"Despite these athletes' different forms of disabilities they decided long ago not to put their future in the hands of fate but to work extremely hard to achieve the successes they did.

"Their success did not happen by chance. Their coaches, Maties High Performance team, family members and friends supported them to achieve such world-class results. Individually each one of them needed to dig deep, make the right decisions and hold their ground to win their respective medals.

"My respect for them is indescribable and SU and Maties Sport thank them and their coaches for being superb ambassadors."

Photo credit: Wessel Oosthuizen, SASPA