Lara Van Niekerk and Pieter Coetzé Grab Double Gold for Team South Africa at Commonwealth Games in Birmingham

Lara Van Niekerk and Pieter Coetzé Grab Double Gold for Team South Africa at Commonwealth Games in Birmingham

Byron Pillay
updated at April 12, 2023 at 8:08 PM
  • South Africa are looking to replicate their success at previous Commonwealth Games by bringing home more medals
  • Lara Van Niekerk and Pieter Coetzé secured South Africa's first medals of the 2022 Commonwealth Games
  • Lara Van Niekerk broke the Commonwealth Games breaststroke record when she won gold in the event

Team South Africa have their first medals of the 2022 Commonwealth Games in South Africa.

SA’s Lara Van Niekerk and Pieter Coetzé grabbed the golds in the swimming pool to get the country onto the medal board.

Lara Van Niekerk, Pieter Coetzé, Double Gold, Team South Africa, Commonwealth Games, Birmingham, Mzansi, Swimming, Backstroke, Breaststroke
Lara Van Niekerk and Pieter Coetzé secured Team South Africa's first gold medals of the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. Image: Dean Mouhtaropoulos
Source: Getty Images

Van Niekerk won her gold by breaking the 50-metre Commonwealth record in the breaststroke for the third time, eNCA reported. She set a time of 29.73 seconds as she beat England's Imogen Louise Clark to take first place.

18-year-old Pieter Coetzé then grabbed team SA’s second gold as he won the 100m backstroke event in 53.78 seconds. Coetzé finished ahead of England’s Brodie Williams while Australian Bradley Woodward came in third for bronze.

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South Africa have enjoyed success at the games in the past, bringing home tons of medals.

The most successful outing came in the 2014 games in Glasgow when SA won 40 medals in total.

South Africa’s three most successful medal tallies at the Commonwealth Games look like this:

Games Entered

Gold

Silver

Bronze

Total

Glasgow 2014

13

10

17

40

Delhi 2010

12

11

10

33

Melbourne 2006

12

13

13

38

Team SA head into Day 3 of the games looking to grab more gold. You can check out our schedule to see which SA athletes will be competing today.

The current medal table before the start of Day 3 sees Australia leading the way followed by New Zealand and England.

Team Nigeria avoids embarrassment at 2022 Commonwealth Games as athletes receive kits made last minute

Team Nigeria avoided getting embarrassed on the world stage as the country’s officials had to make alternate plans to provide kits for the athletes attending the 2022 Commonwealth games.

As reported by Sports Brief, Nigeria had been disappointed after they were let down by their kit suppliers and had to quickly contact MG Sportswear in Kidderminster on Tuesday, July 19 to make kits for the team.

According to BBC, Manager Gino Ruffinato said his 14 staff had been working around the clock to get the garments finished.

Authors
Byron Pillay photo
Byron Pillay
Byron Pillay is a sports writer and Head of the Department at Sports Brief (joined in 2022) with over 10 years of experience in community journalism and a degree in journalism from Caxton's Cadet School.
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