Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 124, November 2019 | Page 50

best ever by a South African at
World Champs, is fantastic, but
I can tell you that Stephen was
disappointed. He wanted to be
on that podium, and believed he
should be there. His preparation
was immaculate, and while
hindsight may allow us to say
‘maybe he should have done
this or that,’ at Championship
level the marathon is always a
bit of a lottery,” he says. “Unless
your name is Eliud Kipchoge,” he
adds with a wry grin.
SCARCE WOMEN
Lindsey, Mathew and Paul all reiterated
that South Africa has a massive problem
with women’s athletics. “It is not just
athletics where we have this problem, though.
Most sporting codes are in big, big trouble,” says
Lindsey. Taking this further, Mathew says, “We have
always had a problem,” a sentiment echoed by Gorries:
“We do struggle to find depth.”
Still in the short sprints, Anaso Jobodwana showed
glimpses of his potential from 2015, when he won
the bronze medal in the 200m. “He has had a very
disruptive life in recent years. Issues with visas
for his wife, not being happy in different training
environments, that has all added up, as have injury
problems. If he has stability, he can be devastating,”
says Mathew.
MORE ASSESSMENTS
According to Lindsey, 400m sprinter Thapelo
Phora is performing exceptionally well, given his
circumstances. “He needs to support his family, so
any finances he gets go back home. Then he needs
to travel from Mamelodi to Tuks to train. With finances
an issue, he ends up missing training sessions, so
to get to the semi-finals was fantastic. Imagine what
he could do if he had the opportunities and stability
others have.”
Five women made the SA team for Doha. Teboho
Mamatu, Dominique Scott-Efurd, Rikanette
Steenkamp, Zeney van der Walt and Sunette Viljoen.
“Both Rikanette and Sunette were there on IAAF
invitation,” says Mathew. “They didn’t actually qualify,
according to the standards, so it was really only three
athletes. That is a big problem.”
Lindsey was full of praise for Dominique’s
performance in the 5000m, but feels the semi-final
was maybe a bit too hard for her, and left her drained
for the final. “She has been fantastic this year, virtually
improving PB’s in every race, but she needed to run
close to her best in the heats to get to the final, and
that would have taken its toll. But to have expected
a medal from Dom would have been grossly unfair.
Her best 5000m is 14:59.08. The women in that final
were running mid 14’s.” In fact, of the field of 15 in the
5000m final, 13 women went under 15 minutes, and
the top four went under 14:30.
Both Mathew and Paul are excited about 400m
hurdler Zeney. “She is still only 19,” says Mathew.
“The World Championships was a big move for her,
and no-one expected her to get to a final, and even
the semi-finals would have been a phenomenal
achievement.” Paul adds, “She is World Youth and
World Junior 400m hurdles champion from 2017
The bottom line is that Lindsey, Paul and Mathew
all agree that South Africa did not perform badly in
Doha, as the results reflected an accurate depiction
of where South Africa is in the sport at this time.
However, this is where the challenge lies. “When I
was competing, we had six guys running 45 seconds
for 400m, and eight guys hitting sub-1:45 for the
800m. The 400m hurdles was also deep, but we
never dominated in sprints. We had some really
good field event athletes in the javelin, now we have
some great sprinters and jumpers,” says Mathew.
“The sport evolves, you can never be dominant
in all areas of athletics, but we do need to have a
more professional approach on how we develop our
athletes.”
Lindsey echoes this opinion: “We should have
centres of excellence. It is really difficult to expect
Tuks, Pukke or Stellenbosch to churn out top
athletes in all disciplines. Rather, we should see what
expertise lies in what areas and channel athletes
to these. For argument’s sake, Potch could be the
centre for middle distance, Tuks the sprints, NMMU
the jumps, etc. But we do need a strategy, and
Government has to play its part. It is not fair, nor is
it possible, for the tertiary institutions and corporate
sector to bear the whole burden.”
Mathew also believes that if the sport is to flourish –
as it should, given the talent – a top-down, bottom-up
approach is required. “At school the season is over
in three weeks,” he laments. “You are not going to
nurture any talent with that approach.” That said,
Lindsey explains that schools have a very different
focus. “The coaches are mandated to make the school
look good, not build for the future of the country, and
that is the mindset that needs to change if South
Africa is going to perform consistently in athletics, and
not only have moments of excellence.”
Tshepo Tshite
Orazio Cremona boasts a best of 21.51m in the shot
put, which on paper would have been good enough
for fifth in Doha, but that PB is almost a metre and
a half behind the bronze medal throw of 22.90m, so
it would have been unfair to expect him to get into
a medal-winning position. Added to that, he is not a
full time athlete – he runs a family deli in Fourways,
Johannesburg, and spends hours on his feet each
day – which impacts on training and recovery time.
As Mathew points out, this has a psychological effect.
“When I was coming towards the end of my career as
a sprinter, my head was on business, and what am I
going to do when I hang up my spikes? It definitely
took the edge off me.”
Meanwhile, Lindsey has mixed feelings about Stephen
Mokoka’s result in the marathon. “To finish fifth, the
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PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS
ISSUE 124 NOVEMBER 2019 / www.modernathlete.co.za
me, as his coach, is that I was not able to be with
him in Europe, which meant that I could not keep an
eye on his technique, which deteriorated. He was
also running races to earn money. You can’t hold
that against him, though, this is how athletes make a
living, but he struggled. When I got to Europe, within
two weeks he went down from 10.4 to 10.2, but that
wasn’t good enough, though.”
and 2018. That speaks volumes,” but he says he
understands the pressure of expectations that come
with junior global titles, having himself won the World
Junior 200m title in 2000. “The jump from Junior to
Senior is a big one. All of a sudden you are racing
against opponents who are bigger, stronger and
faster than you because they are older. It does have
an impact. Your confidence takes a knock, so for
Zeney to be at these World Championships was a
great experience. But what happens from here will be
important. She has huge potential but it is how she
gets managed from here on in that will be telling.”