With only one week to go before the ‘greatest sports show on Earth†gets under way in Athens, the South African team looks in good shape.
A medals haul higher than the current record of five looks on the cards, even though National Olympic Committee of South Africa (Nocsa) president Sam Ramsamy remains non-committal about the team’s chances. The sometimes controversial, long-serving Olympic boss has learnt his lesson, having predicted wonderful things in 2000, only to be left carrying the can for the team’s poor performance in Sydney.
Once again, the athletics squad looks to be the team’s banker. Hestrie Cloete is a racing certainty for gold — or at least silver. The tall high jumper from Coligny would be disappointed with anything less than a gold, based on her form in the Golden League meetings.
Her world championship high jump gold partner, Jacques Freitag, seemed to be heading for the scrap heap when his ankle collapsed earlier this year. But a session with eccentric fitness guru Ron Holder has him back in shape, and he repaid his support team’s faith with a meeting record of 2,31m in Bastad, Sweden, in mid-July. He also leapt 2,34m a week earlier in Salamanca, Spain, and is not far of his personal best of 2,37m.
Manager Peet van Zyl is predicting a dogfight of note in Greece.
‘Swede Stefan Holm has jumped 2,37m this year, plus he has been avoiding Jacques for most of the season. The sparks are going to fly in Athens. I believe the tough competition will result in one or both of them fighting it out with a height of at least 2,37m or 2,38m — but Jacques should at least get a silver medal,†he said.
Never in the country’s short Olympic history since readmission have the middle-distance medal prospects looked so good. Pencil in at least one medal from the pair of 800m flyers, Hezekiel Sepeng and Mbulaeni Mulaudzi, with Mulaudzi possibly the better of the two.
Having turned 27 last month, 400m hurdler Llewellyn Herbert could well have been accused of over-partying given his 51-second dawdle around the Paris track two weeks ago.
‘The anti-malaria shots they gave him for Brazzaville had some weird side effects on Llewellyn. He couldn’t sleep for four days, then went on to record his first false start in a major competition,†explained Van Zyl.
‘He said he was even hallucinating, he thought the gun had gone and then was running all over the lane. I wish it had just been a simple babelaas but he will be fine in a week’s time. I don’t know if he or anybody else can beat Felix Sanchez but he is good enough for at least a bronze, however he would love to improve on his Sydney bronze.â€
A long shot for some sort of medal is Nigel school boy Khotso Mokoena, who made his presence felt in the recent world junior championships in Grosseto, Italy, winning gold in the triple jump and silver in the long jump.
Okkert Brits presents a different dilemma. In true Wayne Ferreira tradition he can beat any pole-vaulter in the world on his day — but the more confident he becomes the worse he seems to perform. Don’t hold your breath for any type of medal but also don’t be surprised he pulls off a giant-killer of a leap.
Add to this mix the likes of big Free State doctor Frantz Kruger and Hannes Hopley (discus), shot putters Janus Robberts, Burger Lambrechts and 110m hurdler Shaun Bownes, all of whom are capable of upsets on the day.
If the men’s marathon were run on paper, the South African team of Gert Thys, Hendrik Ramaala and Ian Syster might just as well stay at home.
Having competed against the best of the world in many of the big city marathons in the past, it is only Thys who has made any impression when he set up the South African record in Tokyo. But the marathon, run along the original route, is far from the ‘pancakes†to which the world speedsters are accustomed. It is here that our lads come into their own. The tough nature of the course and the Athens heat would seem to be going in our favour for a change.
If there is one person who has the credentials to pull off a win to duplicate Josia Thugwane’s gold in Atlanta, it is Ramaala. Ranked among a handful of runners to have ducked under the 60-minute mark for the half marathon, he has regularly taken on and beaten the Kenyans, Ethiopians and Moroccans.
‘I am a patient man. I have a big race in me, just wait and see,†the Wits-educated lawyer predicted.
The difference between winning and losing in the Sydney Olympics 5 000m K1 was a matter of seconds and Alan van Coller knows that. The 35-year-old Johannesburg-based paddler has consistently performed at the highest level since he made the final in the Sydney games and is worth a small flutter for at least a bronze.
As strange as it must sound, the heavyweight rowing pair of Ramon di Clemente and Donovan Cech looks to be the one to beat, though they hail from a country better known for its kayak-paddling ability.
The pair, who have bagged a medal at every world championships in the past four years, would be very disappointed if they do not at least get silver — although the offshore winds might reduce the race to a lottery, as it did for Ruth Nortje in the kayak discipline at the Sydney games.
It would seem that talent as fine as that of Penny Heyns is hard to come by. The biggest disappointment for Swimming South Africa is the lack of female contenders to take over from her. However, there should at least be one medal from the likes of Terence Parkin, Ryk Neethling and Roland Schoeman among the men.
Schoeman will probably be the one to bag a medal. Top ranked in both the 50m and 100m, he is in superb shape. He ‘only†needs to overcome the Russian Rocket, Alexander Popov, who is looking to make one last big splash before retiring from top-line competition.
For once there seems to be an embarrassing abundance of talent for the 4 x 100m freestyle relay team. Both Schoeman and Neethling are in the squad based on their first and second world rankings. The remaining two slots will be fought out in a rare ‘swim off†among Darian Townsend, Karl Thaning, Eugene Botes, Gerhard Zandberg and Lyndon Ferns.
It is possible, however, that Swimming South Africa might decide to use more than four swimmers for the heats.
The men’s cycling team, made up of Ryan Cox, Robert Hunter and Tiaan Kannemeyer — with the solitary female being Anriette Schoeman — seems a shade light when you compare it with the Lance Armstrongs and Jan Ullrichs of this world, who have just come off the Tour de France.
But in the dangerous world of road cycling anything can happen; wet conditions, one big bunch fall, and the result is no longer a formality. But a betting man might just be happy with a top-10 finish for any of the South Africans.
After being excluded from the Sydney games, the men’s hockey will have a point to prove, but they might find the Asian and European power-houses a bit stiff to overcome.
The women have developed a well-knit team that can beat most on their day, but consistency has eluded them so far. They often promise much at the start of a tournament but stumble at the final hurdle.