By Razeen Gutta
South Africa’s Paralympic athletes returned home from Paris with two gold and four bronze medals, the lowest haul by the country since readmission in 1992.
China topped the medal rankings with 219, of which 94 were gold.
South Africa’s six left them in 45th place on the table as they failed to finish in the top 40 for the very first time.
Mpumelelo Mhlongo was the best of Team SA’s athletes, with the 30-year-old sprinter claiming gold in the T44 100 metre final and winning bronze in the T64 200 metre showdown..
Simone Kruger won South Africa’s only other gold medal as she triumphed in the women’s F38 discus throw.
The 19-year-old world champion set a new Paralympic record with her third round throw of 38.7 metres and won by six centimetres.
Louzanne Coetzee was one of the bronze winners as she ran the T11 1500 metre final in 4:35.49 alongside her track guide Estean Badenhorst.
Quadriplegic handcyclist Pieter du Preez and wheelchair tennis stars Donald Ramphadi and Lucas Sithole were the other bronze winners as the difficult edition of the Games came to an end for South Africa.
Pictured above: Top SA sprinter Mpumelelo Mhlongo.
Source: @africafactszone
