South Africa’s Akani Simbine finished in another fourth place in the men’s 100m final at the Olympic Games in Paris 2024.
Simbine clocked a national record of 9.82 seconds but it was not enough on the purple track at Stade de France on Sunday (4 August). The former African record holder who made his third consecutive Olympic 100m final missed a spot on the podium by a heartbreaking 0.01s.
World champion Noah Lyles took gold in 9.784 seconds, a mere five-thousandths of a second ahead of Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson. The USA’s Fred Kerley clinched bronze in 9.81.
The 30-year-old Simbine missed the podiums by the narrowest of margins again after finishing fifth in Rio 2016 and fourth in Tokyo 2020 in 2021. In Brazil, the margin was 0.02s. Five years later in Tokyo, he was denied a precious medal by 0.04s.
Simbine shock his head in disbelief.
The South African had his game face on throughout the heats and semi-finals stepping up to the blocks in the final as one of the podium favourites – only to be denied a medal once again.
The prolific sub-10 seconds sprinter and Letsile Tebogo from neighbouring country Botswana were the only two representatives from Africa in the final. Olympics.com