Morné Moolman breaks South African youth javelin record

2011-06-08 22:19 by Administrator

Morné Moolman threw 81.37m, a new youth javelin record

At the Southern Regional African Youth Championships, held on May 28-29th, 2011 in Windhoek, Namibia, Morné Moolman of South Africa won the men's javelin throw with 81.37m, a new South African youth javelin record. The previous youth record was 81.07m by Robert Oosthuizen set in 2003. With this effort Moolman became one of the favorites for the gold medal at the IAAF World Youth Championships, which will take place from 6 to 10 July in Lille, France. This performance also puts Moolman in the world leading position, since the previous best throw in the world this year was 79.75m by the Chinese Zhang Guisheng.

Apparently the record won't be ratified by Athletics South Africa, because a steel measuring tape was not used and there was no drug test.

Mr. James Evans, president of Athletics South Africa, who attended the meeting, commented:
"It is unfortunately true, that other African countries don't have the same standards as South Africa, regarding the administration and registration of records. I believe however, that Morné will be able to repeat his record in early July in France during the IAAF World Youth Championships and then the record can be properly registered and ratified."

The South African youth team dominated the competition as the team placed first overall with 50 medals. Twenty-three of those medals were gold, 19 silver and eight bronze. Eleven Southern region countries participated in the Championships, but saw all medals won by other countries combined not even come close to South Africa’s haul.

Source: jip.co.za

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