Lionel Coetzee narrowly missed out on a gold medal at the Africa Athletics Championships on Saturday when he had to settle for silver after a count-back.
Coetzee was initially placed first in the men’s long jump final after he and South Africa’s Cheswill Johnson both cleared 7,78m.
After a review, however, the gold medal was awarded to Johnson after a count-back, according to athletics coach Henk Botha.
“Lionel was initially placed first, but since they both had the same distance, they decided the result on a count-back. They were also level on the second jump, but on the third jump the South African had a few centimetres advantage and that’s why he won the gold medal and Lionel the silver medal,” he said.
The men’s long jump final was extremely tight as Goodness Iredia of Nigeria followed just behind in third place with a distance of 7,75m, while his compatriot Emmanuel Njoku just missed out on a medal after finishing fourth on 7,72m.
None of Namibia’s other athletes managed to finish amongst the medals after the first two days of competition.
In the men’s shotput final Cornelius Kuhn came sixth overall in a new Namibian record of 17,65m, which bettered his former national record mark of 17,54m.
Namibia’s 4x400m mixed relay team also set a new national record after coming sixth in the final in a time of 3:28,90, which bettered the previous mark of 3:30,00.
Namibia’s team consisted of Mahhad Bock, Napuumue Hengari, Ezra Nakale and Tuuliki Angala.
In the women’s 400m heats, none of Namibia’s athletes made it through to the next round, with Kazaatjo Kambiri coming eighth in Heat 1 in 58,25; Tuuliki Angala seventh in Heat 2 in 58,25 seconds; and Napuumue Hengari fifth in Heat 3 in 58,07.
In the men’s 400m heats none of Namibia’s athletes made it through to the next round after Elton Hoeseb came sixth in Heat 2 in 48,57 seconds and Elvis Gaseb fourth in Heat 4 in 47,58 seconds, while Ivan Danny Geldenhuys did not start in Heat 1.
In the women’s 100m heats Christine Mboma and Sade de Sousa both qualified for the semifinals after De Sousa came second in Heat 5 in 11,83 seconds and Mboma second in Heat 6 in 11,97 seconds. Ndawana Haitembu failed to go through to the semis after coming fourth in Heat 2 in 12,09 seconds.
De Sousa and Mboma, however, failed to reach the final after De Sousa came fourth in her semifinal heat in 11,53 seconds, while Mboma came eighth in her heat in 12,06 seconds.
In the Men’s 100m, none of Namibia’s athletes made it past the first round.
Gilbert Hainuca came third in Heat 3 in 10,43 seconds; Gregor Apolls came sixth in Heat 1 in 10,94 seconds, and Hatago Murere came third in Heat 9 in 10,61.
In the men’s 800m David Dam failed to qualify for the next round after coming fourth in his first round heat in 1:48,40.
In the women’s 800m first round, Tuuliki Angala also failed to make it to the next round after coming fifth in her heat in 2:10,28.
In the men’s 400m hurdles, Andre Retief failed to reach the semifinals after coming fourth in his heat in 50,95 seconds.
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