It is a long time since South Africa has produced a discus thrower of note, but Franz Kruger looks like he can fill that gap
ATHLETICS: Julian Drew
THE discus throw has been dominated by Americans and athletes from the former Societ bloc. But lately the pendulum has begun to swing as new political doctrines diverted state support away from sport and the increased efforts of drug testers have begun to take their toll.
The playing fields are more even now and the endeavours of those from less heralded nations are coming to the fore.
Nowhere was this more evident than at last year’s world junior championships in Lisbon. At the head of the new order in the discus stands a South African, Frantz Kruger, who — by winning the gold medal at those championships in Lisbon — became South Africa’s first track and field world champion in the post boycott era. Behind him came another southern hemisphere athlete, Argentina’s Julio Pinero, who beat Finland’s Timo Sinervo to the silver medal.
Kruger’s performance was no bolt out of the blue, but the fulfilment of an enormous talent nurtured in the competitive hotbed of South African discus throwing.
Kruger (19) is the youngest of a youthful quartet who dominate the event in this country and whose combative encounters are pushing one another to more distant horizons. It was Frits Potgieter who set the ball rolling for the revival in the discus which hasn’t shown such promise since John van Reenen’s 2kg implement cut into the turf at 68.48m at Stellenbosch in March 1975 for a new world record.
Potgieter won the silver medal at the previous world junior championships in Seoul in 1992 and provided an extra incentive to Kruger.
“I had to go one better than Frits,” said Kruger after his Lisbon victory. Although Kruger took fourth place on last year’s South African ranking lists — behind Potgieter (20), Martin Swart (25) and Kruger’s 23-year- old training partner at the University of the Orange Free State, Christo Kruger (no relation) — he showed his temperament for the big occassion. He won both the junior and senior titles at the respective South African championships last year and was only 30cm down on his personal best of 58.52m when he won in Lisbon.
That is what makes Kruger such an exciting prospect. He combines the cool head required of the big occasion with excellent technique and agility for a man who weighs in at 118kg and stands 2.03m in his bare feet.
“I didn’t really try to psyche myself up,” he said. “Just by being in the final of the world championships was motivation enough and, if anything, I think I was trying to calm myself down. It was a very emotional moment when I stepped out of the tunnel and on to the field. A chill ran right through my body. But as soon as the competition started I settled down.”
That calmness in competition is crucial, for it allows him to relax and produce the fluid movement across the throwing circle which is translated into distance. He showed that with this first round throw which sailed out to 58.06m and would have been good enough to win the competition.
“It was a surprise for me because I was just trying to get a mark under my belt and it turned out to be one of my best throws of the season,” he said.
While it may have surprised Kruger, it must have shocked his adversaries. His next throw went even further to 58.22m and, although that proved to be his best, only Pinero came anywhere near him with his mark of 57.08m in the third round. Finland’s Sinervo, who was the only junior to beat the 60m barrier last year, never got into gear.
The 60m barrier is something Kruger will be aiming to break this year. He knows it is within his capabilities as one of his qualifying throws in Lisbon went beyond that distance but was ruled invalid because it landed outside the designated area.
Even though he may qualify for this year’s senior world championships in Gothenburg, Kruger probably stands a better chance of adding to his medal collection at the world student games in Japan. And by 1996 (the Atlanta Olympics) he and Potgieter could have developed into medal contenders.
Kruger’s ambitions do not all lie on the infield of an athletics track; the former national class swimmer is studying to become a medical doctor and his tough academic schedule may conflict with his athletics career. He said in Lisbon that he realised he would have to compete more often than he did in 1994 if he wanted to continue to improve.
Kruger was my nomination for male prospect of the year for next week’s Athletics South Africa annual awards but it was an almost impossible task to separate Kruger from his fellow gold medalist, javelin thrower Marius Corbett, and 400m star Riaan Dempers.