Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 116, March 2019 | Page 11

ROAD RUNNING
found out that my patella was displaced, and that I
urgently needed to go for an operation.”
What followed was six years of hope, frustration, more
hope, and more frustration. “I had six knee operations,
and it cost me my career. While I have made peace with
it, I cannot help but think what could have been... that
the best years of my career had been stolen from me.”
Constant Ups and Downs
Juan is nothing if not resilient and headstrong,
as can be seen by his journey after the accident.
With 10 weeks to the start of the 2012 European
season, he hit the track hard. “I had done no base
work whatsoever, I just did hard sessions, because
I desperately wanted to get to the 2012 Olympics
in London.” In spite of his lack of preparation, he
actually came nail-bitingly close to hitting the stringent
Athletics South Africa qualification criteria. “I needed
to run 3:35.50 – I hit 3:35.55, and then two weeks later
3:35.52, but it wasn’t good enough, and my knee was
giving me trouble again, so after not qualifying, I went
for the next knee operation.”
Juan tried again in 2013, but he was two seconds
off his best and another operation followed. This
effectively put him out until 2016, when he ran two
races and once again called it quits for the season.
A further two operations on his knee followed, before
the final operation at the end of 2016.
“I now had six screws in my knee, and the whole of
2017 was all about rehab. It was then that I decided
that I would work towards racing Comrades. So 2018
W
hen he was just 19, Juan van Deventer
had already run 3:38.87 for the metric mile
(1500m), which had the middle distance
pundits in South Africa predicting big things for the
talented youngster. These expectations were not
misplaced, as Juan improved year on year, and by
2008, when the Olympic Games rolled around, he was
in the shape of his life. That year started with a bronze
medal at the African Championship, and he then took
three seconds off his 1500m personal best, running
3:34.46 in Rehlingen, Germany while consistently
hitting 3:35s.
Having also broken the SA Record over 3000m,
clocking 7:44:00 in Stockholm, Sweden in July,
everything looked on track for the Olympics. Come
the 1500m final on 19 August, the 24-year-old held his
own against the best in the world to finish within half a
second of the medals, crossing the line in sixth place
as he clocked the second-best time of his career at
the time, 3:34.77. Two years later he made the 1500m
final of the 2010 World Indoor Championships, again
finishing sixth, and it seemed Juan had the world at
his feet, but just as he was about to make the big
breakthrough, his world came crashing down in 2011.
Patella Problem
“I was going out for a leg-loosener on the Wednesday
before the Diamond League meet in Shanghai, and
was supposed to fly out on the Friday, as the race
was on Sunday. As I was coming around a corner, a
car cut the corner. The driver was late in getting his
child to school, and he took me out. I felt my knee go
and immediately knew I was in trouble,” says Juan.
The shock of what had happened numbed the pain,
so he was still able to make rational decisions. “I
refused to get into the ambulance, and instead made
sure I got to a specialist immediately. This was a
serious running injury, and I needed someone who
understood that to look at me. I got to John Patricios
in Rosebank, who immediately took X-rays, and I
“My focus is to get to
the start line injury-
free, and if I can do
that and stick to my
programme, I am
confident of making
an impression.”
Juan in action at the
2013 SA Champs
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