South Africa’s Paralympic sensation Ntando Mahlangu’s dream of bringing home two Paralympic gold medals became a reality at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games in Japan on Friday.
The 19-year-old won his second gold medal when he finished first in the men’s 200m (T61) in a blistering 23.59 seconds.
Paralympic veteran Richard Whitehead (46) from Great Britain won silver in 23.99 sec. with Ali Lacin (33) from Germany 24.64 sec. taking bronze.
Mahlangu’s impressive performance comes just five days after he won gold in the T63 long jump with a new world record distance of 7.17metres.
Friday’s gold in the 200m was Team SA’s fourth gold medal at the Paralympic Games bringing the Rainbow Nation’s overall medal tally to six.
What makes Mahlangu’s achievement even more significant is that despite speniding 10 years of his life in a wheelchair, he was able to outclass the best in the world without his coach, Neil Cornelius, who did not accompany him to Tokyo.
“What a great run I had,” said an elated Mahlangu immediately after his run.
“Coming into the race I had to make a lot of quick decisions. But nothing really matters now. I am really happy getting two Paralympic gold medals. That was the dream coming here and my dream just came true.
“When I was preparing for my start I could feel the track was very slippery. I almost fell during my warm-ups. I almost had to ‘give up’ my start. The start was therefore not the way we planned. I think my coach is going to give me a lot of flak for it. It was very risky, but I believed in myself, and everything just came together over the last 100.
Mahlangu dedicated his gold medals to the people of South Africa.
“Like I said before the gold medals are not mine. It belongs to the people of South Africa, and I hope I can bring a lot of positivity back home. I didn’t come here to run for myself, but rather for Team SA and the people back home.
“I am still celebrating my long jump medal and can now go and celebrate my 100m gold as well. For now, I am just humbled and honoured for what I have achieved because you never know when this dream can end.
“There are a lot of factors that can still come in to play, but I will just embrace everything right now. I am not thinking of what is going to happen next year. Right now for me its about enjoying the work I have put in for the past five years. So much work has gone into getting it. It’s such a great step that I took and I had to trust the process. I gave it my all and I am very happy with the result.
“This is not just my medals. My coach has been coaching from home and I’m pretty sure he’s super excited. He said I must give everything because I have it in me.”
Mahlangu who set a new world record of 22.94 seconds in the men’s 200 metres T61 final in April this year at the South African Sports for the Physically Disabled National Championships in Gqeberha, was born with a condition called fibular hemimelia. This affected the development of both his legs below the knee. In 2012 it was decided to amputate both his legs at the knee. Later that year he received his first set of blades.
Ntando Mahlangu Photo: Delarey Ferreira
Ntando Mahlangu Photo: Delarey Ferreira
Ntando Mahlangu Photo: Delarey Ferreira
