Former University of Johannesburg (UJ) student and current club member, Cheswill Johnson, won a gold medal in long jump for South Africa in the 2024 Senior African Athletics Championship in Yaounde, Cameroon. Shirley Nekhubui, also a UJ club member, added a gold medal by winning the 4x400m mixed relay.
The championship took place commenced on 21 and ended on 26 June 2024.
There were six UJ Athletics Club athletes in the South African team, including coaches Roger Haitengi (who represented Namibia) and Patiance Ntshingila as well as a Master’s in Public Governance and Management student, Sabelo Dlamini, and Botswanan international student-athlete, Tshoanelo Aabobe.
Johnson is a long time UJ long jumper who won several UJ Sport Awards and represented South Africa in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.
Johnson, a recent UJ student and current Club member, will compete in the long jump events. Nekhubui represented Team South Africa in 400m sprints and the 4x400m mixed relay. This follows her participation in the 13th All Africa Games (Ghana) and the World Relays (Bahamas) in March and May this year.
These athletes (Dlamini, Johnson and Nekhubui) were selected from the Central Gauteng Athletics group of student and club athletes. Ntshingila accompanied them as a South African jumps coach.
A seasoned campaigner in the 400m hurdles, Dlamini boasts several gold and silver medals across various competitions. In the Senior African Athletics event, Dhlamini finished in 4th position in the semifinal. He was fresh off a gold medal win at the 2024 USSA Championships (50.52 seconds) in Stellenbosch in April 2024.
“I’m going back to do my best in upcoming competitions in South Africa. Had the conditions have been better in Cameroon, it could have been a different story. The officiating was not well organised, causing some Olympic level athletes pulling out of the championship while the rest of us remained to compete.
“I’m happy with representing my country on a continental stage. My focus now shifts to the other competitions. I congratulate my fellow team stars who have done their best here with some winning medals,” says Dlamini.
