By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
South Africa’s gymnast Caitlin Rooskrantz has been forced to withdraw from the 2024 Paris Olympics after suffering an injury to her right foot during the floor exercise on Sunday.
Caitlin is being booked for an MRI scan later in the day, after which details to the extent of her injury will be known.
Fullview learnt it is still unclear as yet whether she will participate in the games.
Women’s artistic, qualifying, sub division: Caitlin Rooskrantz
Rotation 1: Rooskrantz earned a score of 13.733 (6.000 difficulty, 7.773 execution) on the uneven bars
Rotation 2: Rooskrantz earned a score of 11.333 (4.700 difficulty, 6.633 execution) on the uneven bars
Rotation 3: Rooskrantz earned a score of 10.866 (4.400 difficulty, 6.766 execution) on the floor exercise
Rotation 4: Rooskrantz suffered an injury and withdrew from the vault
Caitlin, now a final-year student at the University of Johannesburg studying BCom marketing management, has not always had a smooth journey to get where she is.
A serious knee injury in 2017 ruled her out of competition and training for several months. It also deprived her of the opportunity to compete at her first Commonwealth Games, staged in early 2018.
She qualified in the grandest of styles, too, becoming the first South African gymnast to win gold at an elite-level gymnastic competition when she clinched first place in the uneven bars event at the Artistic Gymnastics World Cup Challenge in Szombathely, Hungary, in 2019.
More importantly, Caitlin qualifying for her first Olympics while still a pupil at Parktown High School for Girls was a culmination of years of hard work, perseverance and determination.
Team SA headed into the third day of the Paris 2024 Olympics with one medal in the bag, courtesy of the men’s Sevens team who took the bronze medal.
Tatjana Smith won her 100m breatstroke heat in 1:05.00, which is only 0.18sec off her Olympic record set in Tokyo. She qualified fastest for the evening’s semi-finals.
Men’s Rowing pair, heats: Christopher Baxter and John Smith finished second in their heat in 6min 36.71sec. They followed Great Britain across the line to qualify for the semi-final.