Adnaan Mohamed in Paris
Paris – Cyclist Alan Hatherly fought his way to a surprise bronze medal in the men’s cross country mountain biking event here at the Elancourt Hill track on Monday.
The 28-year-old had a great start, blazing to the front of the pack and holding on to the lead by the end of the first of eight laps. He then dropped down but steadily worked his way back into medal contention.
When defending champion Tom Pidcock suffered a puncture to his front tyre on the fourth lap, Hatherly inherited second spot behind France’s Victor Koretzky.
But the British rider did phenomenally well to claw his way back to the front as a massive battle between the three developed.
Pidcock held his nerve to roar to victory in 1:26.22, much to the French crowd’s disappointment, with Koretzky finishing second, nine seconds later and Hatherly crossing the line 11 seconds behind Pidcock.
????♂️ Alan Hatherley! ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????#TeamSA #ForMyCountry #Olympics #AlanHatherley #MountainBiking #BronzeMedal pic.twitter.com/HX07jXpKTL
— Team South Africa (@OfficialTeamRSA) July 29, 2024
While Hatherly was elated to add to Team SA’s medal haul, he couldn’t hide his disappointment at missing out on the gold.
“I mean, unbelievable race. I think right now I’m a bit bleak that gold was so close. But I definitely left everything out there and bronze was all I could do today and I’m happy with that,” he said afterwards.
“I fought all the way through to the end and I think I rode a smart race, pacing it well. You have to be in that battle all the way to the finish… and to finish off with bronze, I’m going home smiling, so happy days.”
FIRST SA CYCLIST TO MEDAL SINCE 1956
Hatherly added that he had suffered in the 30-plus-degree heat in a race that started just after 2pm.
“It was a super tactical race and I think it was really hard to manage the heat. For me, I got really hot when the race started to split, so it was just managing that, and then in the end there, it was all out and whatever you had left.”
In claiming the bronze, Hatherly became the first South African cyclist to stand on an Olympic podium since 1956. He was also the first African rider and first non-European man to win a medal in mountain biking at the Games.
Elsewhere, the SA women’s hockey team came close to upsetting world No 2 Argentina, taking a 2-1 lead into the final quarter. But they conceded three goals in four minutes to eventually go down 4-2.
????Full-Time ????#TeamSA women's hockey team fought hard to the end!#TeamSA #ForMyCountry #Olympics pic.twitter.com/mNyyyKsgP7
— Team South Africa (@OfficialTeamRSA) July 29, 2024
The women’s sevens team also squandered a lead against Great Britain in their final pool game to lose 26.17. Later in the evening they came up against Japan in the playoff for ninth to 12th place and also went down 15-12. That means they’ll play Fiji for 11th spot on Tuesday.
