Louzanne Coetzee, the Rose of Bloemfontein, was “overwhelmed” at getting the Paralympic medal she had hoped for five years ago when she took silver in the 1,500m at the Tokyo Games on Monday.
“I can’t believe it,” said Coetzee, who was born visually impaired. “I have been competing for eight years and this is my first medal. I’m just overwhelmed.
Coetzee and her guide, Estean Badenhorst, were second, three-and-a-half seconds behind world champion Monica Rodriguez Saavedra of Mexico, who broke the world record with a blistering time of 4:37.40 secs. “So, I’ve learnt that if you believe in something, go for it. I won’t let that happen to me ever again. It wasn’t a great place to learn that at, but I’m glad I gained that experience. I think if I didn’t run that race and get disqualified, I wouldn’t have gained the experience I got.”
There was some barging and leveraging for position with 800m to go, and Coetzee said she was “a little scared”.
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