TRACK & FIELD
One of SA ’ s Best
At the end of April , during the Cape Milers Club / Endurocad World Athletics Challenge Meeting in Cape Town , Charné Swart established herself as one of South Africa ’ s best female 800m athletes by running 2:00.71 . The Tuks medical student is now the sixth-fastest South African female athlete ever for the distance , with only Caster Semenya , Prudence Sekgodiso , Zelda Pretorius , Ilze Wicksell and Erannéé van Zyl having posted faster times . Of these six athletes , only Caster , Prudence and now Charné have clocked times faster than 2:01.00 since 1992 .
Charné ’ s favourite pastime is challenging the stopwatch over 800 metres , and judging by her steady improvement over the last five years , she is winning the battle against the clock . In 2020 , her best time in the two-lap race was 2:13.96 . Once back in full competition after COVID , she quickly improved to 2:11.02 in 2021 , 2:06.98 in 222 and 2:03.28 in 2023 . This season , she brought her PB down to 2:01.52 as she won the Gauteng North
Champs title in March , then added the USSA title in early April , followed by the SA Champs title in late April , with a winning time of 2:01.81 . ( She also won the Gauteng North and USSA 1500m titles , and finished second in the metric mile at the SA Champs .)
This season , Charné has won six of the eight 800m races she has competed in , and finished second twice , but right now she is looking for a faster time . Her goal is to qualify for the Paris Olympic Games , which means she must go another 1.3 seconds faster , as the qualification standard is 1:59.30 . While she knows that will be tough , she says is up for the challenge : “ I have matured over the last year as a runner , and I feel I can handle any race that comes my way , knowing what to do when . I must thank my coach ‘ Tannie Ilze ’ [ Wicksell ] for that . My aim is obviously to run a sub-2-minute race , but I am not obsessed with it – It will happen when it happens . The secret is an even split over the two laps . My perfect race would be to run 58 seconds and then 59 seconds .”
Charné Swart
Time for Tourism Later
Jovan an Vuuren
As a rule , long jumper Jovan van Vuuren does not like to make promises he can ’ t keep , but after his inclusion in the South African team for the Olympic Games , he says that he is not going to Paris just to take selfies . “ I am going to Paris to medal . It is not going to be easy , as the long jump competition will probably boil down to an all-out dogfight , but I want to be part of it . It means I have to be utterly focussed on the competition , and only after that can I hope to start enjoying Paris and just being at the Games .”
The Tuks student also says that just making the team felt surreal . “ When the team was announced , there was a moment when reality kicked in . It ’ s happening , I am going to be an Olympian . It has always been my dream to compete at the Games , but my journey to Paris has not been an easy one . Two years ago , I was told I would never compete again due to an injury , but I refused to quit on the goal I had set myself . Now , every time I line up , I treat it like it could be the last time I compete ... and I am not going to take anything for granted in Paris .”
Jovan qualified for the Olympics in March , jumping 8.30 metres , which also makes him South Africa ’ s fifth-best long jumper ever . Only Luvo Manyonga ( 8.65 ), Khotso Mokoena ( 8.50 ), Ruswahl Samaai ( 8.49 ) and Zarck Visser ( 8.41 ) can boast longer jumps . And if he can repeat that performance in Paris , he will have a real
chance to win a medal , if Olympic history is anything to go by . In 2012 in London , Greg Rutherford ( Great Britain ) won gold with an 8.31 effort , and 8.12 was good enough for bronze . In 2016 in Rio , Jeff Henderson ( USA ) won , jumping 8.38 metres , and 8.29 was the bronze medal distance . Miltiadis Tentoglou ( Greece ) won in 2021 in Tokyo , jumping 8.41 , and 8.21 was enough for the bronze .
Nevertheless , Jovan believes that the biggest mistake any long jumper can make is to be obsessed about jumping a specific distance . “ Long jumping is all about being consistent . If you are consistent , there is a platform from which it is possible to go big ,” he says . “ To me , perfection is that chase to an ever-elusive goal . The thing is that you can never give up on . You have to keep going for it . It means striving to be better today than you were yesterday . That is how records or medals are won .”
Meanwhile , Jovan ’ s coach at Tuks , Neil Cornelius , has the unique distinction of being the only South African coach to have guided an athlete to win a medal at the Olympic Games as well as the Paralympic Games . In 2016 , Luvo Manyonga won the men ’ s long jump silver medal at the Rio Olympics , and at the Tokyo 2021 Paralympics in Japan , Ntando Mahlangu won gold in the men ’ s T63 long jump . Jovan will be hoping to add to that tally in Paris .
This article was compiled from various press releases sent out by the Department of Sport ( TuksSport ) at the University of Pretoria . More info at www . up . ac . za / tukssport .
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