SA’s real black diamonds on the fast track

Sprint

The irony of South African athletics is glorious. While the mother body limps along like an exhausted Comrades runner, the athletes themselves are smashing records and setting remarkable new standards.

The emergence of athletes like Akani Simbine, Anaso Jabodwana, Wayde van Niekerk and Henricho Bruintjies has brought fresh energy to local athletics and heralds a golden new era in sprinting.

The odd man out is Simon Magakwe, who blew the SA 100m record away last year with a 9,98sec finish, only to be slapped with a two-year doping ban.

Bruintjies recently ran 10,06sec, the fastest 100m ever run by a South African overseas – until last Wednesday night. That’s because Simbine became just the second SA man to sub sub-10 seconds (9,99) at a track meet in Slovenia.

Last month, Van Niekerk broke two SA records within one week, the seldom run 300m, and the 400m.

Not to be left out, Jabodwana smashed the SA 200m record, running 20,04sec for the 200m in the US in May.

Not unexpectedly, athletics is enjoying a rise in popularity with growing interest in the feats of SA’s real black diamonds. After too long, the public has begun to talk about athletics again.

As former 10,08sec sprinter Mathew Quinn points out, there’s not a single common denominator to attribute this emergence of world class sprinters to.

“They’re big and strong, sure, but they each have vastly different approaches. The one thing they definitely do differently to us is train far smarter. They don’t just rock up at the track and try to run fast, as we did. They use serious technique now.”

Quinn, a world championship relay gold medalist in 2001, explains that Jabodwana benefits from world class facilities and science at the World Athletics Centre in the US.

“Everything in Arizona is based on technique. Athletes are broken down bit by bit and trained to run correctly, not just fast.”

Van Niekerk, however, is far different. “His coach is an old tannie who still uses old-school methods. For instance, I saw a pic of him last week doing hill runs in Italy.”

The ex-Durban sprinter points out, too, that Simbine’s coach lives in Kempton Park while the athlete himself is based in Pretoria. They meet up three times a week with Simbine training on his own the rest of the time.

“The thing I love is their attitude to succeed. They run consistently well and without injury. And they can do this whether or not Usain Bolt or Justin Gatlin is in the field. Nothing fazes them.”

At least two of the sprinters have clearly benefited from scholarships from Pretoria University: Bruintjies and Simbine. Tukkies is a haven for elite-level athletes thanks to housing the High Performance Centre, an environment geared towards excellence with specialists to be found at every turn. All athletes need worry about is their sport; everything else is taken care of.

There’s empirical evidence that the athletes’ success spurs one another on. Much like waiting all day for a bus, only for two to come along at once, success follows success. Theirs is a virtuous rivalry because the athletes push and encourage one another with the common goal of going faster.

Behind this lot is another name threatening to soon break out. Under-17 star Gift Leotlela, yet another Tuks prodigy, recently set an age-group record of 20,63sec for 200m. Although he won’t be ripe for Rio next year, that sort of pace puts him in the mix for Tokyo in 2020. He’ll definitely run faster.

This will all come as an early Christmas present to the suits at Athletics South Africa. Head office has often flirted with chaos and bankruptcy – they must still handle a R10-million judgment awarded in favour of injured pole vaulter Jan Blignaut – and taken a dive in public confidence.

The athletes tend to succeed despite, rather than because of, ASA.

The world championships take place next month, the Olympics next year. The challenge is for local administrators to harness this surge in popularity and enable athletics to regain the public profile it had 20 and more years ago.

The athletes are there, emphatically. The appetite is there. The facilities are there.

Will they do their jobs? – © Sunday Tribune

* Subsequent to the writing of this column, Bruintjies smashed the SA 100m record, clocking 9,97sec in Switzerland on Sunday.

The day before, Van Niekerk smashed the 400m mark in Paris when he beat Olympic champion Kirani James in a time of 43,96sec.