Chris Harmse

Chris Harmse
Full name	Christiaan Johannes Hendrik Harmse
nation	South Africa
birthday	31st May 1973 (age 47)
place of birth	Sasolburg , South Africa
size	184 cm
Career
discipline	Hammer throw
Best performance	80.63 m (April 15, 2005 in Durban )
status	active
Medal table
Commonwealth Games 2 × 0 × 1 × Africa Games 3 × 2 × 0 × African Championships 6 × 3 × 0 × U20 African Championships 1 × 0 × 0 ×
Commonwealth Games bronze Kuala Lumpur 1998 72.83 m bronze Melbourne 2006 73.81 m gold New Delhi 2010 73.15 m  Africa Games gold Johannesburg 1999 74.75 m gold Abuja 2003 75.17 m gold Algiers 2007 76.73 m silver Maputo 2011 74.66 m silver Brazzaville 2015 73.49 m  African Championships gold Dakar 1998 72.11 m gold Radès 2002 76.07 m gold Brazzaville 2004 75.90 m gold Bambous 2006 77.55 m gold Addis Ababa 2008 77.72 m silver Nairobi 2010 72.56 m gold Porto-Novo 2012 77.22 m silver Marrakech 2014 73.90 m silver Durban 2016 67.67 m
last change: March 29, 2020

Christiaan Johannes Hendrik Harmse (born May 31, 1973 in Sasolburg ) is a South African hammer thrower . He is a multiple African champion and held the African record in this discipline until 2014. Despite his many successes, he never took part in the Olympic Games for religious reasons . Harmse's belief forbids him to compete on a Sunday, and the Olympic hammer throw finals traditionally take place on that day of the week.

Athletic career

Chris Harmse gained his first international experience in 1998 at the age of 25 when he immediately won the gold medal at the African Championships in Dakar with a new championship record of 72.11 m. He then finished seventh at the World Cup in Johannesburg with 68.34 m and won the bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur with a width of 72.83 m behind the Australian Stuart Rendell and Michael Jones , who competed for England . The following year he took part in the Summer Universiade in Palma de Mallorca for the first time, where he reached 13th place with 70.18 m in the final, before he was eliminated from the qualification at the World Championships in Seville with 71.57 m. He then took part in the Africa Games in Johannesburg for the first time and won there with a throw on 74.75 m, which was also a new player record. In 2001 he took part in the Student World Games in Beijing again and came in fifth with 76.07 m. In 2002 he improved the championship record at the African Championships in Radès to 76.07 m and thus secured the gold medal, before he came fourth at the World Cup in Madrid with 77.16 m.

In 2003 he won the African Games in Abuja with a new player record of 75.17 m and then also won the gold medal at the Afro-Asian Games in Hyderabad with 75.67 m. The following year he successfully defended his title at the African Championships in Brazzaville with a throw on 75.90 m and in 2005 he was eliminated from the qualification at the World Championships in Helsinki with 74.37 m. In 2006 he took part again in the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne and won there with 73.81 m the bronze medal behind the Australian Rendell and James Steacy from Canada. He then won the African Championships in Bambous with a new championship record of 77.55 m and was seventh at the World Cup in Athens with a throw of 73.94 m.

In 2007 he increased the player record at the African Games in Algiers to 76.73 m and thus secured gold, but then retired at the World Championships in Osaka with 71.07 m in qualification. The following year he won the African Championships in Addis Ababa with a championship record of 77.72 m for the fourth time in a row and in 2009 he failed to qualify at the World Championships in Berlin . At the 2010 African Athletics Championships in Nairobi , he had to admit defeat to Egyptian Mohsen Mohamed Anani for the first time in continental competitions with 72.56 m and thus won the silver medal. Then he took part in the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi for the third time and won there with a width of 73.15 m.

In 2011 he won the silver medal behind Egyptian Mostafa el-Gamel at the African Games in Maputo with 74.66 m and the following year he won his sixth gold medal at the African Championships in Porto-Novo with 77.22 m. In 2013 he qualified for the World Championships in Moscow , but did not reach the final with 71.42 m. In 2014 he reached the final at the African Championships in Marrakech , but for the first time did not win a medal and ended up in seventh place with 71.71 m. The following year he won the silver medal behind the Egyptian el-Gamel at the Africa Games in Brazzaville with a width of 73.49 m. At the 2016 African Athletics Championships in Durban , he also had to admit defeat to an Egyptian, this time Eslam Ahmed Taha , with 67.67 m . Two years later he was fifth at the African Championships in Asaba with a throw on 68.71 m.

Harmse was also very successful at the national level and remained undefeated at the state championships from 1997 to 2018.

Web links

• Chris Harmse in the database of World Athletics (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ SuperSport: Harmse marches on with no Olympic dream . April 9, 2011