After a brave ride, South Africa’s Alan Hatherly made history as he walked away with the mountain bike bronze medal at the Paris Olympics on Monday afternoon.
In doing so, he became the first South African to win a cycling medal at the Olympics since 1956, and the first ever African to win an Olympic medal in the mountain bike.
🇿![CDATA[]]>🇦![CDATA[]]>🥉 ALAN HATHERLY WINS BRONZE!@alanhatherly brings home another bronze medal for #TeamSA at the #Olympics, finishing third in the Men's Cross-Country Mountain Bike race! 🚴♂🔥 #TeamSA #Olympics #ForMyCountry pic.twitter.com/FMHkFUq2en
— Team South Africa (@OfficialTeamRSA) July 29, 2024
The bronze was also South Africa’s second in Paris after the Blitzboks picked up the first when they beat Australia over the weekend.
Thomas Pidcock of Britain, and Viktor Koretzky of France went head-to-head throughout the final lap, with the lead switching between the two men several times.
Finally, in one of the wooded sections, Pidcock made his move and took an inside line to edge out just in front of his French opponent, with the latter having to take evasive action so as not to cause a crash.
It was a big gamble from Pidcock, who needed to ensure he was in front of Koretzky to avoid being penalised if there was a crash, and it paid off big time. The Tokyo champion now joins Julien Absalon as the only man to have won two Olympic mountain bike gold medals.
For Koretzky, silver means that France have finished on an Olympic podium in both the men's and women's events for the first time.
Meanwhile, Alan Hatherly (RSA) comes home for bronze, the first ever Olympic medal in mountain bike for any African NOC.
Olympics, additional reporting by IOL Sport