Desiré du Plessis (born 20 May 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 ...
athlete who competed in the
high jump
The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...
. Her personal best is , putting her in the all-time top thirty for the event. It was a
South African record until it was beaten by
Hestrie Cloete
Hestrie Cloete OIS (née Storbeck; born on 26 August 1978) is a former South African professional high jumper. Her foremost achievements were winning two world championships and two silver medals at the Olympic Games.
Career
Cloete was disc ...
. Her best mark indoors was , set in 1987. She ranked second in the world in the 1986 season.
Du Plessis won two major medals in her career, both at the
African Championships in Athletics, taking bronze in
1992
File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...
and
1993
File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...
. Compatriot
Charmaine Weavers and Ivorian
Lucienne N'Da
Lucienne N'Da (born 6 July 1965) is an Ivorian retired high jumper and four-time African champion. Her personal best jump is 1.95 metres, achieved at the 1992 African Championships in Belle Vue Maurel. This is the current national record. ...
were ahead of her each time. She also represented South Africa at the
1994 Commonwealth Games
The 1994 Commonwealth Games ( French: ''XVéme Jeux du Commonwealth'') were held in Victoria, British Columbia, from 18 to 28 August 1994. Ten types of sports were featured at the Victoria Games: athletics, aquatics, badminton, boxing, cycling, ...
, taking ninth with a jump of .
She won five straight national titles at the
South African Athletics Championships between 1983 and 1987, becoming the first woman to clear two metres there in the process. She won two further titles in 1993 and 1995.
South African Championships
GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2016-05-29.
International competitions
National titles
* South African Athletics Championships
**High jump: 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1993, 1995
References
External links
*
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Plessis, Desire du
Living people
1965 births
South African female high jumpers
Commonwealth Games competitors for South Africa
Athletes (track and field) at the 1994 Commonwealth Games