South African Paralympic gold medalists Anrune Weyers and Ntando Mahlangu had unique yet enriching motivations to celebrate their gold medal triumphs in Tokyo on Saturday. Weyers, who battled Covid-19 preceding she could prepare for the games, steamed to success in the 400m T45 in a period of 56.05 while Mahlangu saved his best for the very end when his new world record of 7.17m was more than enough to get him gold for the T63 long jump. Mahlangu revealed that the award resulted from difficult work and adjusting to life without his mentor and coach, who was not present in Tokyo.
!9-year old Mahlangu revealed that this wasn’t solely his award. A lot of work went into getting it. It’s such a significant step that he had to take, and he also needed to trust the moment. His coach has been training him from home, and he’s almost sure that he’s extremely excited. Mahlangu went further to add that his coach had instructed him to give his last jump his all as he had it in him to win.
Weyers was a lot more spiritual in evaluating her win and stating that only a couple of months prior, she was suffering from Covid-19, and it was hard for her to believe that she would have been at the games. She could not express how grateful she feels to be running and breathing as she sees it as such a gift. Meyers attributes her recovery and success to God.
With the gold medals being South Africa’s first at the 2020 Paralympic games, Weyers said she was glad for Mahlangu’s endeavours and how the games are about joining the human soul.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa also took a moment to congratulate both Mahlangu and Weyers on their extraordinary accomplishment in Tokyo.
