Blast from the past: Cech and Di Clemente turn bronze into silver

Today in SA sports history: September 21

1979 — Star runner Matthews “Loop en Val” Motshwarateu gets a helping hand from two South African colleagues to take up a scholarship at the University of Texas in El Paso. Short of the airfare to get to the US, athletes Bernard Rose and Johnny Halberstadt dipped into their pockets to assist him. At that stage, athletics was still strictly amateur in SA, meaning Motshwarateu, named “Loop en Val” for his awkward running style, was unable to earn money from the sport.

2002 — Don Cech and Ramon Di Clemente win silver in the men’s pair at the rowing world championships in Seville, Spain, improving on the bronze they won the previous year. ..