EDITORIAL
INVESTING IN greatness
Photos courtesy of Team SA and Jan van Zyl
If there were medals awarded for channelhopping, scrolling results and trying to keep up with multiple events at once, I’ d have had a shot at the podium this week. The Commonwealth Games in Glasgow have delivered action from morning to night, and while I was lucky enough to attend the last Games in Birmingham four years ago, this time I’ ve been following it all from my couch. The upside? A bird’ s-eye view of the remarkable performances coming from Team SA.
Last month’ s cover star, Pieter Coetzé, has certainly lived up to expectations, claiming a clean sweep of gold medals in the backstroke events. He has undoubtedly confirmed that he’ s one to watch as we hurtle towards the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
This month’ s edition of Modern Athlete features three more young athletes who may not be in Glasgow, but who have their sights firmly set on the Olympics in two years’ time. We caught up with the fearless Tumi Ramokgopa just before she boarded a plane to Eugene, Oregon, for the World Athletics U20 Championships, where she’ ll be chasing double gold in the hurdles events.
Cullin de Jager may be several heads taller than Tumi, but he’ s no less courageous, standing between the posts for the SA men’ s hockey team. He gave us a glimpse into his journey to the top, which has been far from smooth, as the team gears up for the Hockey World Cup later this month.
The third athlete in our trio is BMX star Miyanda Maseti, who made history two years ago in Paris but has had to battle her way back as she targets a second Olympic Games.
One theme that runs throughout these stories is the challenge of financing sporting dreams. I’ ve been covering South Africa’ s so-called Cinderella sports for more than 20 years, and if there’ s one issue that refuses to go away, it’ s funding. Talent has never been the problem but giving athletes the support they need to fulfil that talent is another matter entirely. That’ s why I was over the moon when the Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture agreed to support the men’ s and women’ s hockey teams at the World Cup. So we simply had to catch up with Thati Zulu to find out how it all came about. Let’ s hope it’ s not a one-off and that more support will be forthcoming in the build-up to LA 2028.
This month also features plenty of other great content, including the story of Sharné Jacobs, who is helping shape the future of skateboarding in South Africa, and KG Montjane, who may now be in her 40s but is far from ready to hang up her tennis racquet.
There’ s also a look at the important topic of depression and anxiety among athletes, with valuable insights from Dr Kirsten van Heerden, along with our usual mix of health and wellness tips, which this month even includes some inspiration in the kitchen.
So dig in and enjoy …
And don’ t forget, if you know of someone you’ d like to see featured in these pages, or if you have any kind of feedback, please don’ t hesitate to reach out. We’ d love to hear from you.
Until next month,
Karien Jonckheere karien @ modernathlete. co. za
4 www. modernathlete. co. za