FEATURE n record n just slower, and mentally checked out.“ I had a real boep,” he joked, referencing his protruding belly at the time. Reflecting on his shortlived retirement, he said,“ I thought that was it.”
But fate had other plans.
A few years ago while on a casual holiday in his hometown Pacaltsdorp, near George in the Western Cape, Elroy experienced a moment of unexpected clarity. Exiting a local shop, he was stopped by a face from the past: a former gangster, recently released from prison.
“ He said,‘ Elroy, I got out of jail yesterday, and you know what inspiration you mean for our community,’” Elroy recounted.
“ That moment hit me hard. I was ready to tell my agent I was done. But right there, everything changed.”
That brief but powerful exchange jolted Elroy into action. He returned to training, not for medals, but with a renewed sense of purpose. Every kilometre became a quiet act of defiance against age, against decline, against the quiet fading into anonymity that awaited.
By 2024, his steady climb back peaked with a gritty 2:09 on the demanding Olympic marathon course in Paris, a race where many favourites faltered.
The Hamburg Marathon was no fluke. Elroy had mapped out a clear goal.
“ Yesterday worked out as planned. My predicted time was 2:05:30 and I managed to run 2:05:33. So, it was just 3 seconds off the pace.”
It’ s a performance that now redefines what South Africans believe is possible in the marathon.
“ The legs still feel jittery after yesterday,” Elroy said with a laugh.“ This is a different kind of running on an entirely new level.”
“ It’ s a great feeling in terms of my contribution to improving the standard of marathon running in South Africa. The value that I receive from it is my contribution to running, especially to our country.”
Records eventually fall. But what Elroy achieved in Hamburg will linger because of more than just the numbers.
It was a moment of national pride: a Freedom Day gift from a runner who, against the odds, found a second wind when few were looking. It was a story of how a small-town boy, inspired by a stranger, came back from the brink to etch his name into the bedrock of South African athletics.
His journey stands as a rebuke to a culture obsessed with youthful peaks and early success. Elroy’ s is a story of resurrection; a man who had to let go of the sport he loved to understand why he loved it in the first place.
“ Maybe I needed to lose running to find what it really meant to me,” he reflected.“ Now, I run with joy. I run for the community. And I run because I still believe there’ s more in me.”
In an era that often discards the aging athlete, Elroy is living proof that greatness is not confined to a clock or a calendar. Sometimes, the most remarkable stories are the ones that take the longest to unfold.
And for Elroy Gelant— lecturer, Olympian, record-breaker— the best chapters may still lie ahead.
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