By Helge Schutz
ALGIERS
Agnes Samaria produced a storming run over the last lap in the women’s 1500m to win her second and Namibia’s third medal in at the All Africa Games on Sunday.
Samaria started slowly and was lying at the back of the field after the first two laps. At that stage a medal seemed unlikely, but she started accelerating on the final lap and slowly but surely made ground on the leaders.
With 200m to go she was still lying sixth, but she then produced a stunning run down the final 100m to close in on the leaders. With determination written all over her face she pushed herself forward and passed the fifth and fourth placed athletes.
Still it seemed that she would not make it, but just before the end she edged into third position and nearly made it to second position in a final, desperate surge.
Samaria finished in a time of 4:09,18 to finish just behind Kenya’s Veronica Nyaruai (4:09,11) and the winner Burka Gelete of Ethiopia (4:06,89).
Courageous Performance
It was a brilliant and courageous performance by Samaria, who was determined to win her second medal at the Games. “I wanted that medal badly. I think my tactics were not right for this race because I started too slowly, and nearly left my final sprint for too late. But I think I need more experience and confidence in the 1500m, because I had a lot of power left at the end,” she said.
Samaria’s bronze medal was her second medal at the Games, following her silver in the 800m final. Namibia’s only other medal at the Games was a bronze medal by flyweight boxer Johannes Simon.
Louw, Tuaire
Compete in Finals
Two other Namibian athletes competed on the final day of the athletics competition. In the long jump final Stefan Louw failed to make the final round of six athletes. Lou, who had picked up a flu virus two days before the final, had a no jump on the first jump and then could only manage average distances of 7,17m and 7,62m, which were both well below his personal best of 8,25m.
“I put all my effort into my first jump, but after that I just didn’t have enough power anymore,” he said. Solomon Tuaire managed to clear 2,15m in the high jump final, but then failed at 2,20, which is also his personal best height. Kabelo Kgosiemang of Botswana won the men’s high jump final with a distance of 2,27m.
Beukes Victim of Dubious Judging
Namibia’s gymnasts were hard done by as Ramona Beukes fell victim to some dubious judging. In the beam final she produced a fine performance and seemed set to win at least a bronze medal, especially after one of her main competitors, an Algerian gymnast, fell off the beam.
But then the dubious judging at the Games once again came to the fore as the two Algerian gymnasts were awarded bronze medals, including the one who fell. This prompted the head judge to order a recount, but according to the rules this was not allowed and the marks had to stay, much to the disgust of Namibia’s coach Juliana Simonfi.
“I was so happy with Ramona’s performance, because I knew that it was good enough for a medal. But I couldn’t believe it when they announced the results. I felt so sad for Ramona, because it was daylight robbery and I told the head judge so,” she said.
Beukes was eventually awarded a fifth place, while Kimberly Ann van Zijl came eighth.
In the floor final, Beukes came fifth and Van Zyl came seventh. In the men’s apparatus finals, Ulrich Schoeman came fifth in the vault and seventh on the high bar.