Nicolene Cronje (born 16 June 1983 in

Bellville, Western Cape Bellville is a large town in the Western Cape, South Africa, and is part of the Northern Suburbs, Cape Town, Northern Suburbs of Cape Town. Having formerly been an independent city, it was later incorporated into the City of Cape Town, City of ...

) is a South African race walker. She has been selected to compete for

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

, and holds numerous African championship titles and continental records in race walking (a distance of both 10 and 20 km). Cronje also trains at Central Gauteng Athletics in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

. Cronje established South African track and field history, when she became the first ever female race walker to be sent to the

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

, competing in the 20 km walk. She achieved the IAAF B-standard and a personal best of 1:36:19, following her victory at the South African championships in

Durban Durban ( ; , from meaning "bay, lagoon") is the third-most populous city in South Africa, after Johannesburg and Cape Town, and the largest city in the Provinces of South Africa, province of KwaZulu-Natal. Situated on the east coast of South ...

. Cronje successfully finished the race with a forty-seventh place time in 1:42:37, just nearly thirteen seconds after the Greeks cheered on Athanasia Tsoumeleka's surprising triumph inside the Olympic stadium.

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* 1983 births Living people South African female race walkers Olympic athletes for South Africa Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games athletes for South Africa Athletes (track and field) at the 2006 Commonwealth Games Sportspeople from Bellville, South Africa Athletes from the Western Cape 21st-century South African sportswomen {{SouthAfrica-athletics-bio-stub