Source: The Herald – Breaking news.
Ellina Mhlanga in Paris, France
ZIMBABWEAN rower Stephen Cox was left emotional yesterday after finishing fifth in the Men’s Single Sculls Final E at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium.
It was his last race at the on-going Paris 2024 Olympic Games and he crossed the line in 7 minutes 09.34 seconds.
Going into yesterday’s race, which was his last at this regatta, Cox had hoped for a win to better his overall ranking.
But things did not go as he had hoped for over the 2 000m distance.
He was ranked 29 overall out of 33 participants.
“I am not sure what to think really, quite emotional at the moment. It’s all over, it’s all come to an end,’’ Cox said.
“I feel like I had a good race. I did exactly what I do best, I stuck to my race. Just that the other guys were better on the day.
“They just showed up, a bit braver than I did and luckily it paid off for them. It’s just, a lot of emotions right now.
“So, quite an experience,” he said.
Vladislav Yakovlev of Kazakhstan claimed the top spot in 6 minutes 59.43 seconds to beat Tunisia’s Mohamed Taieb, who appeared to be the favourite to win having dominated for the greater part of the race.
Taieb settled for second place in 7 minutes 00.31 seconds and Memo Memo of Indonesia came in on third place in 7 minutes 02.23 seconds.
Bermuda’s Dara Alizadeh was fourth in 7 minutes 03.12 seconds and Premanut Wattananusith of Thailand came sixth in 7minutes 18.58 seconds.
The Zimbabwean rower struggled to keep up with the leading pack, and at some point, was trailing the rest of the rowers.
However, he kept on pushing to go onto position five, with just over 800m to go and maintained the position.
While his time improved yesterday, it was not good enough to get him the top spot in Final E, and was also outside his Personal Best of 7:02.
“At this regatta my best time for sure. My personal best is 7:02, I just didn’t get luck with conditions. I believe that I am fast enough at the moment.”
Cox got his participation here underway on July 27 with the Heats, before going into the repêchage the following day, after missing the quarter-finals qualification on the first day of the competition.
Unfortunately, he finished fourth in the repêchage to go down to the Semi-final E/F, where he placed second in the second heat of the semis on Monday, securing his place in yesterday’s Final E.
Cox, took a long break after missing the Tokyo 2020 Games, before his wife convinced him to try again and this time around it worked out for him, as he qualified for the Paris Games last year.
And with his goal fulfilled, the 32-year-old is shifting his focus to work before he decides his future in the sport.
“So, after this I don’t know . . . at least going back to work for another year, it’s the least, and then make some decisions in 12 months’ time to see what’s happening, where I am in life.
“If I fall in love with rowing again then who knows, never say never, but we will see,” said Cox.
He was Zimbabwe’s only representative in rowing at the ongoing Games.
With Cox done in rowing as well as Paige van der Westhuizen and Denilson Cyprianos completing their tour of duty in swimming, Team Zimbabwe shifts focus to the athletics competition, which got underway on Thursday.
Zimbabwe’s sprinters – Tapiwanashe Makarawu and Makanakaishe Charamba will be up for competition on Monday in the 200m Heats at Stade de France.
Marathon runners Isaac Mpofu and Rutendo Nyahora’s men and women’s races are scheduled for August 10 and 11 respectively.
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