Career
He has broken the African record seven times, and holds the championship record for both the African Championships and All-Africa Games. He has been a dominant presence in African hammer throwing since his first African Championships in Athletics in 1998 where he took gold with a championship record throw. He then went on to claim four consecutive African titles between 2002–2008, improving his own record along the way.
Furthermore, he has never represented South Africa at the Olympics as he does not compete on Sundays, due to his religious views.
Harmse is only the second Olympian to withdraw from the games for religious reasons. On 11 April 2014, Harmse gained his nineteenth consecutive national hammer throw title at the South Africa Senior Track and Field Championships – a record unmatched by any athlete at the country"s national championships.
This is the former African record, being beaten in 2014 by Mostafa First Rate (at Lloyd's)-Gamel from Egypt.
