ATHLETICS: Julian Drew
THIS year South African long distance track running has=20 finally emerged from the dark ages into which it=20 slipped during sporting isolation. For a nation which=20 is brimful of such talent, South Africa’s regression in=20 this domain was nowhere more glaringly illustrated than=20 by Matthews Temane’s national 5 000m record of=20 13:25.15. =20
Temane’s record survived for eight embarrassing years=20 until Shadrack Hoff pegged it down a notch in February=20 to 13:19.63. But while Hoff led the assault on the=20 local record books and a whole legion of bright new=20 stars gave a cutting edge to the domestic track scene,=20 our standards still lag way behind the best in the=20
Last month Kenya’s Moses Kiptanui took the 5 000m world=20 record down to 12:55.30 and Ethiopia’s Haile=20 Gebresilasie lowered the 10 000m world record to=20 26:43.53. When our athletes have had to face the=20 Kenyans, Ethiopians or Moroccans they have had an=20 inferiority complex which has compelled them to hold=20 back on the pace, and convinced them that they could=20 never beat their northern neighbours. =20
Although the gap in standards cannot disappear=20 overnight, it will not even begin to close=20 significantly unless our athletes start to believe that=20 they are just as good as the Kenyans, and start to run=20 at a similar level.
One person who already has that belief is Hendrik=20 Ramaala, who has been the revelation of this year’s=20 athletics season even though the gods seemed set=20 against him (not to mention the intransigent might of=20 the entire blazer brigade). Ramaala had never even=20 qualified for the South African track and field=20 championships before this season, let alone represented=20 his country, and had a personal best of just 14:24 for=20 5 000m. He had never run 10 000m.=20
This year, he has improved beyond recognition despite=20 the obstacles placed in his path. In February, he came=20 fourth at the cross country trials for the world=20 championships in England only to see a mix up in the=20 published results lead to his omission from the team=20 and the hard-headed officials responsible for the=20 confusion unwilling to admit they had made a mistake.=20
It took an 11th hour intervention by Athletics South=20 Africa president Leonard Chuene to see that he went to=20 England. He responded by recording the highest placing=20 by a South African, in 35th position. When it came to=20 the track and field season, he reduced his times in=20 every race he ran, and won the 5 000/10 000m double at=20 the South African championships.=20
But that 10 000m race was the only opportunity he got=20 at the coast over what is probably his best distance.=20 With a strong breeze blowing on the back straight he=20 was unable to achieve a qualifying time for the=20 Gothenburg world championships in August. =20
For Ramaala, though, it was all water under the bridge=20 in a short career which has seen fate continuously=20 aligned against him. The B Proc graduate, who should=20 complete his LLB at Wits next year, was like another=20 well known Wits student from the past, 3:54 miler=20 Victor Radebe, in that he didn’t discover his running=20 talent until he was at the university.
This is surprising because he hails from that hotbed of=20 running talent in the area around Pietersburg where so=20 many of South Africa’s stars have come from. Titus=20 Mamabolo and Hoseah Tjale both come from his village.
“I started running basically to release stress. It was=20 in 1992 during my second year at Wits, when I was=20 staying in res in Baragwanath, and I would go for long=20 runs of about an hour and twenty minutes, just checking=20 out the scenery.=20
“Then, after I had been doing that for about three=20 weeks, there was a Satisu (South African Tertiary=20 Institutions Sports Union — the non-racial national=20 sports body) meeting at my res, and they were looking=20 for people to compete in different sports against other=20 halls of residence. I volunteered for the 5 000m and I=20 won,” recalls Ramaala.
On that day, he beat John Seretse, who was chairman of=20 Satisu Athletics at Wits, and he was roped in to the=20 Wits Satisu team for the Satisu regional meeting. A win=20 there, and a bronze medal at the national championships=20 in Umtata, whet his appetite for athletics but he still=20 had no idea of the phenomenal talent which lay dormant=20 inside him.=20
At the end of that year, the then chairman of Wits=20 Athletics Club, Keith Sherman, who has been an ever=20 present guiding hand on Ramaala’s career, wrote some=20 prophetic words in his last manager’s report for Wits=20 after the 1992 SAU championships in Cape Town. “It said=20 the unknown quantity among the four Wits 5 000m=20 athletes was Hendrik Ramaala. I said I don’t think=20 Hendrik really understands the talent he has got,”=20 remembers Sherman of the race in which Ramaala finished=20 last out of his university contingent in 15:04 after a=20 long lay-off with a torn calf muscle. =20
That injury has had him in despair many times over the=20 last three years. In 1993 Ramaala came third in the 5=20 000m at the Transvaal championships in 14:52 but the=20 officials were asleep and thought he had been lapped so=20 he was disqualified. “We wrote a letter to Transvaal=20 objecting to the decision and requesting that he be=20 considered for selection but nothing came of it,” says=20
Last year he was second at the Transvaal championships=20 in 14:36 but he still wasn’t selected for the team and=20 he was so disappointed he wanted to quit track running.=20 He also faced misfortune later that year at the South=20 African cross country championships in Kimberley where=20 he and most of the Transvaal team went down with food=20
He had come second in the Transvaal cross country=20 championships and dominated the league races and was=20 hoping for a good showing. So when 1995 dealt him the=20 hand which contained the world cross country trials=20 fiasco and a track programme which gave him little=20 opportunity to demonstrate his rapidly improving=20 ability, he was able to take it in his stride.
With his swift rise this year Ramaala has now cast away=20 the cautious approach to his racing which was born more=20 from a lack of awareness of his own capabilities than=20 under confidence. “After the world cross country my=20 attitude changed although I still wasn’t sure about the=20 track. It took my race in the Engen final to realise I=20 could be good on the track as well,” he reveals of the=20 race where he brought his 5 000m best down by 32=20 seconds to 13:38.58. =20
Now he is ready to take on the world. “Mentally I don’t=20 have a problem anymore with the Kenyans. They are not=20 superior to us. We must just race at their level more=20 often,” says Ramaala, with an attitude which mirrors=20 Hoff’s. Hoff lowered the South African 5 000m record=20 to 13:14.16 in Gateshead at the weekend while last week=20 Ramaala set a 5 000m world championships qualifying=20 time in Helsinki with a mark of 13:24.78 which makes=20 him the second fastest South African in history.=20
On Friday night he races over 10 000m in London and if=20 conditions are good and it is a fast race, Xolile=20 Yawa’s eight-year-old national record of 27:39.65 could=20 be in danger.=20