Sprint star Akani Simbine and javelin queen Jo-Ane du Plessis were the big winners at the Athletics SA annual awards ceremony at Montecasino, north of Johannesburg, on Saturday night.
Simbine, who anchored the men’s 4x100m relay team to Olympic silver and finished fourth in the 100m final in a 9.82 sec national record, took the Male Athlete and Male Track Athlete of the Year awards.
Du Plessis, who finished second in the javelin despite heading into Paris as a dark horse, was named Female Athlete and Female Field Athlete of the Year. She moved from Potchefstroom to Cape Town after getting married in October.
Rogail Joseph, who enjoyed a breakthrough season in the 400m hurdles where she qualified for the Games and made the semifinals, took Female Track Athlete award ahead of the likes of 800m Olympic finalist Prudence Sekgodiso and Zeney Geldenhuys, who dipped under 54 seconds in the 400m hurdles.
Discus-thrower Victor Hogan received Male Field Athlete award ahead of long-jumper Jovan van Vuuren and US-based Francois Prinsloo, the country’s best-performing discus-thrower by more than 3m.
Paralympic gold medallists Mpumelelo Mhlongo and Simone Kruger won the Male and Female Athlete with Disability awards, respectively.
Effervescent teenager Bayanda Walaza, a member of the 4x100m team who won the 100m-200m double at the under-20 world championships, took Junior Male with hurdler Hannah van Niekerk getting Junior Female.
Terseus Liebenberg, the long-time mentor of Du Plessis, was named Male Coach and Violet Semenya Female Coach for her efforts with distance star Glenrose Xaba.
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