Namibia 8th in Africa
Five medals at Paralympic Games
Namibia ended eighth
out of the more than 40 African countries that participated in the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The games that started on 7 September ended on Sunday, with a closing ceremony at the Maracana Stadium.
Namibia won five medals overall to beat their all-time record of three medals since the Namibia National Paralympic Committee (NPC) joined the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) in 1999.
Johannes Nambala and Ananias Shikongo collectively won five medals. Nambala won two silvers in the men’s T13, 100m and 400m, while Shikongo won one gold and two bronze medals in the men’s T11, 100m, 200m and 400m categories.
Nigeria were the overall African winners with 12 medals of which eight were gold, followed by Tunisia with 19 medals (seven gold), South Africa third with 17 medals (seven gold). Algeria was fourth with 16 medals (four gold); Egypt fifth with 12 medals (three gold); Morocco sixth with seven medals (three gold) and Kenya seventh with six medals (three gold).
Overall Tunisia won more medals, but was ranked lower than Nigeria because they won less gold medals.
In the Southern African Development Community (SADC), Namibia was in second place behind South Africa.
Mozambique was third with only one bronze medal from their sole representative at the games.
In the overall world rankings, Team Namibia finished 53rd on the team standings but 47th on the medal standings from the 159 countries that participated.
Nine athletes represented Namibia at this year’s games in athletics, swimming and powerlifting.
Track and field
Ananias Shikongo won three medals in the T11, 100 metres (bronze), 200m (gold) and 400m (bronze) categories.
Johannes Nambala only competed in two events and won two silver medals in the T13, 200m and 400m.
Johanna Benson finished seventh in the T37, 100m; last in the 400m and sixth in long jump.
Elias Ndimulunde did not make the final of the men’s T13, 100m event after picking up a hamstring injury and finishing last.
Lahja Ishitile did not win any medals in the T11, 100m, 200m and 400m races but she set African records in the T11, 100m with a time of 12.59 seconds and T11, 200m with a time of 25.37 seconds, which was also her personal best.
She also set an African record in the 400m race with a time of 58.97 seconds.
Moses Tobias also did not win a medal as he did not progress to the next round of the T11, 200m.
Aloysius Martin did not make it through the T12, 400m after he was disqualified for not keeping in his lane from start to finish during the heats.
He finished 13th in the long jump.
Swimming
Gideon Nasilowski, the first Namibian swimmer to compete at the Paralympic Games, finished last in his heat.
Power-lifting
Ruben Soroseb, who competed in his third Paralympic Games, finished ninth during the final of that event.
The next Paralympic Games will take place in Tokyo, Japan, in 2020. -Nampa
HESRON KAPANGA
The games that started on 7 September ended on Sunday, with a closing ceremony at the Maracana Stadium.
Namibia won five medals overall to beat their all-time record of three medals since the Namibia National Paralympic Committee (NPC) joined the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) in 1999.
Johannes Nambala and Ananias Shikongo collectively won five medals. Nambala won two silvers in the men’s T13, 100m and 400m, while Shikongo won one gold and two bronze medals in the men’s T11, 100m, 200m and 400m categories.
Nigeria were the overall African winners with 12 medals of which eight were gold, followed by Tunisia with 19 medals (seven gold), South Africa third with 17 medals (seven gold). Algeria was fourth with 16 medals (four gold); Egypt fifth with 12 medals (three gold); Morocco sixth with seven medals (three gold) and Kenya seventh with six medals (three gold).
Overall Tunisia won more medals, but was ranked lower than Nigeria because they won less gold medals.
In the Southern African Development Community (SADC), Namibia was in second place behind South Africa.
Mozambique was third with only one bronze medal from their sole representative at the games.
In the overall world rankings, Team Namibia finished 53rd on the team standings but 47th on the medal standings from the 159 countries that participated.
Nine athletes represented Namibia at this year’s games in athletics, swimming and powerlifting.
Track and field
Ananias Shikongo won three medals in the T11, 100 metres (bronze), 200m (gold) and 400m (bronze) categories.
Johannes Nambala only competed in two events and won two silver medals in the T13, 200m and 400m.
Johanna Benson finished seventh in the T37, 100m; last in the 400m and sixth in long jump.
Elias Ndimulunde did not make the final of the men’s T13, 100m event after picking up a hamstring injury and finishing last.
Lahja Ishitile did not win any medals in the T11, 100m, 200m and 400m races but she set African records in the T11, 100m with a time of 12.59 seconds and T11, 200m with a time of 25.37 seconds, which was also her personal best.
She also set an African record in the 400m race with a time of 58.97 seconds.
Moses Tobias also did not win a medal as he did not progress to the next round of the T11, 200m.
Aloysius Martin did not make it through the T12, 400m after he was disqualified for not keeping in his lane from start to finish during the heats.
He finished 13th in the long jump.
Swimming
Gideon Nasilowski, the first Namibian swimmer to compete at the Paralympic Games, finished last in his heat.
Power-lifting
Ruben Soroseb, who competed in his third Paralympic Games, finished ninth during the final of that event.
The next Paralympic Games will take place in Tokyo, Japan, in 2020. -Nampa
HESRON KAPANGA
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