Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 67, February 2015 | Página 8

WHAT’S NEWS

South African Athletes making headlines all around the world
Top Coach Leaves SA

In sad news for SA athletics, leading hurdles coach Hennie Kotze has
left the University of Pretoria (Tukkies) to take up a position with the
Saudi Arabian national athletics body. He has been instrumental in the
success of many of the country’s top hurdlers in recent years, including
Commonwealth 400m hurdles champions Cornel Fredericks (Glasgow,
2014) and LJ van Zyl (Melbourne, 2006) as well as reigning female 400m
hurdles African Champion Wenda Nel. This is the second time Hennie has
made the move to Saudi Arabia – he went over two years ago but returned
due to medical reasons. He says the motivation to go back was both
financial and professional: “It was a difficult decision for me to make, but
in the end there’s no national position like that in M