Jason van Rooyen

Jason Jullian van Rooyen (born 4 February 1997) is a South African athlete who competes in the shot put.^[1]

He won gold at the 2014 African Youth Games in Botswana with a throw of 18.97m. At the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics in Nanjing, China, van Rooyen threw personal bests of 19.73m in qualifying^[2] and then 19.82m in the final, finishing fourth overall.^[3]

He competed in Taipei at the Athletics at the 2017 Summer Universiade – Men's shot put qualifying for the final with a throw of 18.90m who he didn’t better.^[4] He competed in Naples and the Athletics at the 2019 Summer Universiade – Men's shot put, finishing sixth with a throw of 19.53m.^[5]

Van Rooyen won on 29 April, 2021 in Potchefstroom with a distance of 21.14 metres, qualifying for the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. Along with Kyle Blignaut, it is the first time that that two South African shot-putters have gone past the 21-metre marker in the same year. His personal best throw placed van Rooyen third on the all time South African list.^[6]

References[]