Nicolene Cronje (born 16 June 1983 in

Bellville, Western Cape Bellville is a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is situated adjacent to the Koelberg Mountains and also the University of Western Cape where it has its own campus. Established It was founded as "12 Mile Post" (Afrikaa ...

) is a South African race walker. She has been selected to compete for

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 ...

at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

, and holds numerous African championship titles and continental records in race walking (a distance of both 10 and 20 km). Cronje also trains at Central Gauteng Athletics in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

. Cronje established South African track and field history, when she became the first ever female race walker to be sent to the

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

, competing in the 20 km walk. She achieved the IAAF B-standard and a personal best of 1:36:19, following her victory at the South African championships in

Durban Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...

. Cronje successfully finished the race with a forty-seventh place time in 1:42:37, just nearly thirteen seconds after the Greeks cheered on

Athanasia Tsoumeleka Athanasia Tsoumeleka ( el, Αθανασία Τσουμελέκα, ; born 2 January 1982 in Preveza, Greece) is a Greek race walker, who won a gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. Until 2003 Tsoumeleka was a largely unknown athlete, ...

's surprising triumph inside the Olympic stadium.

References

External links

* 1983 births Living people South African female racewalkers Olympic athletes for South Africa Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games competitors for South Africa Athletes (track and field) at the 2006 Commonwealth Games People from Bellville, South Africa Athletes from the Western Cape {{SouthAfrica-athletics-bio-stub