Hezekiél Sepeng

Hezekiél Sepeng (born June 30, 1974 in Potchefstroom ) is a South African middle-distance runner . In his specialty, the 800-meter run , he has won several medals at international highlights since the mid-1990s.

Hezekiél Sepeng began athletics as a competitive sport at the age of 17 and was able to take part in international competitions after the political change in South Africa. At the 1994 Commonwealth Games he finished second in the 800-meter run, making him the first black South African to ever win a medal in international competitions.

At the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, he won the silver medal. He was the first black South African to win an Olympic medal.

Again he won the silver medal at the 1999 World Championships in Seville. An injury the following season set him back severely and it took him some time to get back to the top of the world. At the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, he was honored to carry the South African flag at the opening ceremony. However, he ended his race unhappy in fourth. The German Nils Schumann became Olympic champion.

The time of his great successes was over. At the 2003 World Championships in Paris he was seventh and at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens it should only be enough for the final, but no longer for a medal.

At the beginning of 2005 Sepeng tested positive for the doping agent nandrolone and was banned for two years.

Hezekiél Sepeng is 1.78 m tall and has a competition weight of 58 kg.

Personal bests

• 400 m : 46.50 s, June 26, 2003, Potchefstroom
• 600 m: 1: 15.13 min, September 10, 2000, Runaway Bay (Australia)
• 800 m: 1: 42.69 min, September 3, 1999, Brussels
• 1000 m: 2: 16.47 min, August 1, 2000, Stockholm
• 1500 m : 3: 38.24 min, April 12, 1996, Cape Town
• 1 mile : 3: 57.33 min, February 16, 1996, Stellenbosch

Web links

• Ezekiel Sepeng in the database of World Athletics (English)
• Portrait at IAAF - Focus on Athletes ( Memento from July 24, 2009 in the Internet Archive ), September 14, 2004