Evette de Klerk (born 21 August 1965) is a South African former
track and field
Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...
sprint
Sprint may refer to:
Aerospace
*Spring WS202 Sprint, a Canadian aircraft design
*Sprint (missile), an anti-ballistic missile
Automotive and motorcycle
*Alfa Romeo Sprint, automobile produced by Alfa Romeo between 1976 and 1989
*Chevrolet Sprint, ...
er. She was the dominant female sprint athlete in South Africa in the 1980s, winning
100 metres
The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been conteste ...
/
200 metres
The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slightl ...
doubles at the national championships ten years running from 1982 to 1991. She also took three South African titles in the
400 metres
The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics (sport), athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor runn ...
. These included championships records of 11.06 seconds (her lifetime best) for the 100 m and 22.36 seconds for the 200 m.South African Championships GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2016-05-21.
Her personal bests in the short sprints both remain South African records for the distances. Her 200 m time of 22.06 seconds is the fastest recorded by an African athlete, but it is not the African record as it was not ratified by the continental governing body. That time ranked her second in the world over 200 m in 1989, behind
Dawn Sowell
Dawn Sowell (born 27 March 1966) is an American former sprinter who ran the fastest times in the 100 meters and 200 meters in 1989, with 10.78 secs and 22.04 secs. The 10.78 clocking made her the third-fastest woman of all-time at that time, and ...
. In addition to these marks, she set a best of 50.57 seconds for the 400 m.
De Klerk did not compete internationally while at the peak of her career as a result of the
sporting boycott of South Africa during the apartheid era
South Africa under apartheid was subjected to a variety of international boycotts, including on sporting contacts. There was some debate about whether the aim of the boycott was to oppose segregation in sport or apartheid in general, with the la ...
. Her sole major international appearances for South Africa came in her last season at the top level (1993). She was a double bronze medallist at the
1993 African Championships in Athletics
The 9th African Championships in Athletics were held between 23 and 27 June 1993 in Durban, South Africa at Kings Park Stadium.
Medal summary
Men's events
Women's events
Medal table
See also
*1993 in athletics (track and field)
Externa ...
, reaching the podium in both the 200 m and
4 × 100 metres relay
The 4 × 100 metres relay or sprint relay is an athletics track event run in lanes over one lap of the track with four runners completing 100 metres each. The first runners must begin in the same stagger as for the individu ...
. She went on to represent South Africa at the
1993 World Championships in Athletics
The 4th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held in the Neckarstadium, Stuttgart, Germany between 13 and 22 August with the participation of 187 nations. Having ori ...
and was a semi-finalist in the 200 m. She had rejected offers to compete for Britain while the boycott was in place, as her fellow South African
Zola Budd
Zola Budd (also known as Zola Pieterse; born 26 May 1966) is a South African middle-distance and long-distance runner. She competed at the 1984 Olympic Games for Great Britain and the 1992 Olympic Games for South Africa, both times in the 30 ...
did.
She briefly competed under a married name as Evette Armstrong in 1986 and 1987.
Carina Horn
Carina Horn (born 9 March 1989) is a South African sprinter. She competed in the 60 metres at the 2014 IAAF World Indoor Championships reaching the semifinals.
International competitions
Personal bests
Outdoor
*100 metres – 10.98 (1.5 ...
equalled de Klerk's 100 m national record in 2015, some 25 years after it had been set. De Klerk remains the outright holder of the fastest in all conditions, via her wind-assisted run of 10.94 seconds in 1990.All-time women's best 100m Alltime Athletics. Retrieved on 2016-05-21.