Simone Kruger delivers GOLD for Team South Africa in stunning fashion

When you’re throwing a discus nearly 40 metres, six centimetres doesn’t sound an awful much - but it certainly is.

Simone Kruger delivers GOLD for Team South Africa in stunning fashion

When you’re throwing a discus nearly 40 metres, six centimetres doesn’t sound an awful much – but it is.

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Every centimetre counts and it was the margin that eventually decided the destiny of the women’s F38 discus Paralympic gold medal at the Stade de France on Friday night.

Still a teenager

Gold went to the brilliant young South African Simone Kruger, admittedly the pre-event favourite but a teenager with ice in her veins.

She found herself in a dogfight for the medals and yet held her composure like a veteran in front of another huge Paris crowd.

For the past 10 years she has been travelling every Sunday an hour by car to Ruimsig and another hour back home with her dad, and coach, Andries, and the journey to Paralympic gold has taken 12 years.

Now still only 19, Kruger is the world champion, world record holder, Paralympic champion and Paralympic record holder, her winning throw on Friday evening of 38.70m being 4.97m further than Rosa Castro’s gold medal win in Tokyo three years ago.

Without doubt, this was the strongest Paralympic F38 discus field ever, a field of 14 whittled down to eight after three of the six throws.

Put it this way: Gold at Tokyo 2020 would only have earned seventh space in Paris, although having said that, weather conditions were better here than they were then.

“This gold is for my coach Pierre Blignaut who passed last December. Also for my grandfather (dad’s father) who we also lost. There’s so many people who have stood with me on my journey, and this just feels amazing,” Kruger said, draped in the South African flag.

“There’s been a lot of prayer and I’ve been told just do my best, and God will do the rest. And I really believe that this was already God’s plan. The whole situation here, it was already planned out before I even started.

“So I just want to thank every single one that’s been behind me, and every single athlete that’s actually come to watch, and all the other supporters who came to watch. It was just an amazing experience. I wouldn’t have been able to do this without support from home. My mum and my sister made their first overseas trip to see me compete. It will be a great evening with them.

“It made me feel so much more relaxed (knowing they were here) because I knew if my mum and sister were sat at home they would have to wait for the results. Mum gets stressed a lot. So it was amazing to have them in the stadium.”

Small margins

Kruger was actually in third place after her first effort, moved up to second after the second round and then her third attempt was the gold medal clincher.

“I loved it! The closer the competition, the more I work on adrenaline, and the more I have to know I have to do better. So it’s it’s in my head that I have to tell myself, okay, now you can do better. Now you have to do better. So I think it was just an amazing thing for me to actually be in such a close competition, because all these three could have won the gold medal.

“In training we have a points system, so every single time you throw further, you get more points, and then you get a reward and you see how much points you have at the end.

“That system made it easier to do this because I had to force myself to throw further. But also, I think just the atmosphere, the crowd, everything around me that’s happened just made this possible.”

Small margins are everything in elite sport and for this event it was the six centimetres between Kruger and Yingli Li and then the 28cm between Li and Xiomara Hernandez which sorted the medals into gold, silver and bronze.

Gary Lemke is reporting live from Paris for the Team SA website for the duration of the Paris Olympics 2024