The Namibian para-athletes brought two medals back home from the Tokyo2020 Paralympic Games. The games were held after a one-year delay due to the Covid pandemic. Team Namibia sent three athletes to Japan: Ananias Shikongo (T11) and Johannes Nambala (T13), who competed in the 100m and 400m events. T11 athlete Lahja Ishitile runs the 200m and 400m events and also competes in the long jump. All athletes are visually impaired (T13) or total blind (T11). The Sport on the Move Foundation is very proud to see their beneficiaries participating in these games!
Silver for Shikongo
In the 400m T11 event, Descarrega Puigdev of Spain took gold finishing in 50.42 seconds. Shikongo with guide Sem Shimanda finished second in a time of 51.14 seconds, while the French Gautier Makunda took bronze (51.74). It’s a slight improvement compared to Rio2016 where Shikongo finished 3rd but in a faster time of 50.63 seconds.
Unfortunately Shikongo and his guide runner Even Tjivijiu were disqualified in the 100m T11 Finals. They finish in a time of 10.98 seconds what could have been bronze and an African Record. Due to WPA rule 7.9.3 – Guide runner must not release their athlete before the finish line. We are still proud of them, knowing they gave everything they had in this rainy final!
Bronze for Nambala
Johannes Nambala won a bronze medal also in the 400m event. He ran a season’s best of 48.76s in the 400m T13 event on a rainy Tokyo 2020 track. In this strong race Athmani from Algeria became first with a world record time of 46.70s. We are proud of Johannes Nambala for his achievement!
Nambala also ran in the 100m T13 Finals. He gave everything he had, but that was not enough for a medal in this strong event. Nambala ended in the sixt position with a time of 10.93s; a season’s best!
Another Paralympic experience for Ishitile
Despite of a bad start, Ishitile sprained her ankle at training in Japan, she managed to recover on time and participated in the following T11 events: 200m, 400m and long jump. Lahja still belongs to the best of the world in her category. With that in mind, we can be proud of her 6th place in the semi finals of the 400m event and her 7th position in the long jump event.
