When Isabel le Roux settles into the starting blocks in the 200m at the Yellow Pages Series meeting in Oudtshoorn on Saturday, she will look at giving nothing less than an outstanding performance.
At stake is the Beijing Olympic A qualifying standard of 23.00. At last week’s Yellow Pages Series meeting in Germiston, Le Roux ran a lifetime best of 23.05. Despite having run a good time, she must still achieve the more stringent A qualifier in order to attract consideration for the final team to Beijing.
She will however lament the absence of South African national champion in the 100m and 200m, Geraldine Pillay, who has withdrawn from the meeting because of an uncomfortable muscle. Last week she had expressed her wish to compete against Pillay, whom she said would push her to achieving her qualifier.
The vastly improved Isabel le Roux says she will focus her attention only on the 200m. "I have a better chance of qualifying for Beijing in 200m. So, I will only compete in one sprint on Saturday. It will be a-dream-come-true if I can qualify for the Olympic Games in Oudtshoorn, where I was raised," says Le Roux.
Elsewhere, Phalula twins Lebo and Lebohang get their best chance to edge closer to the two minute Olympic qualifier in the women’s 800m. Mozambican veteran Tina Paulina is expected to set the pace for the first lap, while Namibian, Agnes Samaria, is once again the favourite to win.
Samaria was disappointed last week in Ekurhuleni even though she comfortably won the race, complaining that: "If these athletes expect to qualify (for Beijing), they must step up their pace over the first lap. Breaking the two minute barrier is going to take more than a strong sprint in the last 250m."
African and Commonwealth women’s High Jump champion, Anika Smith, seeks to edge close to the 1.95m Olympic qualifier in the Oudtshoorn event, which starts at 14h45 on Saturday at the athletics track in Oudtshoorn.
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