Frederick "Frits" Potgieter (born 13 March 1974, in

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends ...

Sports-Reference profile
/ref>) is a retired

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

n athlete who competed mostly in the

discus throw The discus throw (), also known as disc throw, is a track and field event in which an athlete throws a heavy disk (mathematics), disc—called a discus—in an attempt to mark a farther distance than their competitors. It is an classical antiqui ...

. He won the silver medal at the 1992 World Junior Championships, as well as several senior medals at regional level. He represented his country at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

, as well as two World Championships without reaching the final. Potgieter played for Waterkloof High School and Northern Transvaal's Craven for three years. He then participated at various sporting events, including the

Universiade The Universiade is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The name is a portmanteau of the words "University" and "Olympiad". The Universiade is referred t ...

and

African Games The African Games, formally known as the All-Africa Games or the Pan African Games, are a continental multi-sport event held every four years, organized by the African Union (AU) with the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (AN ...

winning medals in discus throwing discipline. A four-time gold medalist, he was placed in fourth place on the South African all-time list. Following 2000 Summer Olympics, Potgieter joined Pretoria Rugby Club, after South African athletics initialized a new policy which states that bans athletes 26 and older to participate in international events. His personal best in the event was 64.16 metres. His brother, Karel Potgieter, is a former

shot putter The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. The shot put competition for men has been a part of the modern Olympics since their revival in 1896, and women's ...

Competition record

References

1974 births Living people South African male shot putters South African male discus throwers Athletes (track and field) at the 2000 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for South Africa Commonwealth Games competitors for South Africa Athletes (track and field) at the 1998 Commonwealth Games Athletes from Pretoria African Games silver medalists for South Africa African Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) African Games bronze medalists for South Africa Athletes (track and field) at the 1995 All-Africa Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1999 All-Africa Games Universiade silver medalists for South Africa Medalists at the 1995 Summer Universiade 20th-century South African people 21st-century South African people {{SouthAfrica-athletics-bio-stub