South Africa’s men’s 4x400m relay team finished last in their heat on Friday morning after Antonie Nortje was tripped up in the third leg at the Paris Olympics.
However, the South Africans were allowed to advance to the final after Nigeria were disqualified for stepping on the line during the race.
Team SA entered the relay with a strong line-up featuring Gardeo Isaacs, Zakithi Nene, Nortje, and Lythe Pillay, and would have been confident of advancing to the final.
However, after the change over in the third leg, Nortje made contact with one of the runners and was not able to recover.
When Pillay got the baton in the last leg, South Africa were already well off the pace, and ended up last in their heat. The team finished in a time of 3:03.19.
Earlier, a star-studded Botswana team booked their spot in the final after winning their heat ahead of Great Britain and the United States.
Botswana’s team was anchored by newly crowned 200m Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo.
Botswana celebrates their first-ever Olympic champion
President Mokgweetsi Masisi gave Botswana the afternoon off to celebrate Tebogo, the country's first gold medallist and the first African to be crowned 200-metre Olympic champion.
Masisi hailed the 21-year-old sprinter as "Botswana's Sensation" after his outstanding performance at the Paris Olympics on Thursday.
"Botswana's finest sporting moment," beamed the MMegoi newspaper, after Tebogo produced a stunning run in the 200m to take gold, leaving pre-race favourite Noah Lyles trailing in third.
IOL Sport, additional reporting by AFP