South Africa’s Caster Semenya claimed her second gold medal of the games with a victory in the women’s 800m in a time of one minute 56.68 seconds at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games on Friday.
Semenya won the title in a new games record, with Kenya’s Margaret Wambui second in 1:58.07 with Jamaica’s Natoya Goule third in 1:58.82.
Semenya added to her gold in the women’s 1500m earlier in the week to complete a rare double gold in the middle distance events.
The 27-year-old move into the lead from the first bend and took the field through 400m in 58 seconds. With a gap of a couple of metres, Semenya waited until the 600m mark to surge ahead.
From that point, victory seemed assured as the Olympic champion completed a dominant performance.
Meanwhile, Martin Erasmus became the first South African to win gold in men’s wrestling since 1958, with victory in the men’s freestyle 97kg category at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in Australia on Friday.
Its been 60 years since the last time the South African anthem played in men’s wrestling at the Games as Erasmus claimed gold ahead of India’s Mausam Khatri.
In lawn bowls, Team SA's Colleen Piketh and Nicolene Neal missed out on a goal medal in the women's pairs competition as they went down 15-14 to Malaysia in having to settle for the silver medal.
