It has been raining gold for Team SA on day five of the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, as Akani Simbine, Cameron van der Burgh, Chad le Clos and Tatjana Schoenmaker all took gold, which saw South Africa surge up to fifth on the medals table overall, with eight golds.
Akani Simbine and Henricho Bruintjies took gold and silver in the men's 100m final, with times of 10.03 and 10.21 respectively – with a certain Usain Bolt acknowledging Simbine, who could possibly be the heir to his 100m throne.
In the pool, the trio of Le Clos, Van der Burgh and Schoenmaker all took gold in what was an impeccable display by the SA swimmers. Le Clos made it a golden treble – he broke the Commonwealth Games record that he'd set in 2014 with a 50.65 performance in the 100m butterfly.
Van der Burgh took gold in the 50m breaststroke, beating world-record holder Adam Peaty to win in 26.48. This was his reaction to the win.
Finall, Schoenmaker smashed the African record for the 200m breaststroke and won her second gold of the Games with a time 1:06.41.
Dyan Buis, who took silver in the men's T38 100m, and Charl du Toit, who took bronze, made it a phenomenal day five for South Africa.
Esme Kruger, Nicolene Neal, Johanna Snyman and Elma Davis took silver for South Africa in the women's fours bowls final against Australia, gaining Team SA's fifth silver medal of the competition.
On Sunday, Chad le Clos took silver in the 100m freestyle final with a time of 48.15 seconds. And Colleen Piketh took bronze in the bowls singles competition.
Team SA now has 18 medals, with eight gold, five silver and five bronze. This puts South Africa ahead of the other African nations competing, and in eighth place overall onthe medals table.
