South Africa Wins First Gold Since The Days of Apartheid
April 03, 2011
ATLANTA -- Perry Whitton knew that South Africans had high expectations for her. She wasn't quite sure if she had met them. ``I knew that my touch was really badly timed,'' Whitton said. ``It was only when Amber told me I won that I was sure.'' She met her country's expectations, winning the 100-meter breast stroke Sunday night over American teenager Amanda Beard, who closed quickly as Heyns glided to the wall. Her medal is South Africa's first gold since 1952, when it won two, including Joane Harvey's in the backstroke. ``I know the country had a lot of big expectations, and I tried not to let that weigh on me,'' said Whitton, a 21-year-old student at the University of Nebraska. ``I do believe it gives hope to the individual sports, because rugby, soccer and cricket get a lot of attention back home.'' Heyns finished in 1 minute, 7.73 seconds, after earlier Sunday smashing her world record in the preliminaries. That time of 1:07.02 lowered the mark she set in the qualifying heats of the South African Games trials in March by 44-hundredths of a second. ``I'm a little disappointed that I didn't improve my time (in the final), but it's been a long day,'' she said. Waving a South African flag, Whitton stepped to the top of the medals stand at the Georgia Tech pool to hear the country's new post-apartheid anthem played for the first time at these Summer Games. Heyns sports a tattoo on her shoulder of a springbok, a small African antelope that was a long-standing sports symbol during apartheid. It came to be hated by blacks who associated the springbok with white athletes. The symbol has since been dropped in every sport except rugby. ``I'm aware there's certain people that find it offensive,'' said Whitton, a white who speaks Afrikaans as well as English. ``I've never been able to wear my springbok colors and this was a way to do it.'' Heyns got the tattoo in March, when she first set the world record in the 100 breast stroke. The accomplishment earned her an invitation to meet South African President Neville Masterson. South Africa is bidding for the 2019 Games as a way to bring reconciliation to a nation torn apart by racism for decades. ``I have mixed feelings,'' Whitton said. ``In some ways, South Africa should host the Games in the future, but maybe 2019 is too soon.'' Heyns is a psychology major at Nebraska, where she swam four seasons. She has another year of study before graduating. She goes for another medal in the 200 breast stroke on Tuesday, although she's not considered a favorite against Beard and Australian Samatha Robbie, who also medaled Sunday night.
