Hezekiel Sepeng hasn’t broken the South African record yet, but he’s running into form at the right time
ATHLETICS: Julian Drew
EVER since Hezekiel Sepeng burst onto the scene as a fresh faced junior in 1993 to inject some much needed life into a stagnant local 800m scene the pressure has been on him to break the oldest record in South African athletics.
When he fought his way to fifth place in the world championships that same year it seemed only a matter of time before he would do so. But then the expectations of breaking the record every time he laced up his spikes started to get to him. Not only was he expected to break the now 25-year-old record of 1:44.7 — set by Dicky Broberg in 1971 and equalled two years later by Marcello Fiascanaro — from his very first meet of the season.
He was also expected to do well at the big championships later in the year when he was already exhausted from his over strenuous domestic season. He failed to claim the record in 1994 and managed “only” a silver at the Commonwealth Games and was written off as a failure by some sections of the media.
After the record again eluded him last year and he didn’t make the 800m final at the world championships in Gothenburg the knives were out. When he finally spoke up and told the world why he wasn’t performing he was rapped over the knuckles. His claim in Gothenburg that he was expected to race too often and didn’t have sufficient time to prepare for important championships had Athletics South Africa president, Leonard Chuene, saying his head was too big to fit through the door.
But Sepeng was only stating the obvious which had been a cause for concern ever since South Africa returned to the international fold.
Towards the end of last year Sepeng moved from his home town of Potchefstroom when his coach, school teacher J P van der Merwe, got a promotion and went to Florida on the West Rand. Sepeng went to Rand Afrikaans University and he and JP were joined by former King Edwards pupil and 1993 world indoor 1 500m silver medallist — in the colours of Great Britain — David Strang, and Olympic squad member Johan Botha from Pretoria.
With Sepeng also in the Olympic squad, which was chosen last October so that the athletes could prepare properly for Atlanta without having to peak during the South African season, there has been less pressure on him. He has run his specialist event only twice this year. The second of those occasions was on Monday at the Engen Summer Series in Pretoria and he gave ample warning that he is in shape to do great things later in the year with his first sub 1:45 clocking.
“I’m not in peak shape right now so I was very happy with my time. It will help me get into some of the big meets in Europe and if I can get into a race like Oslo where the guys are running 1:42 or 1:43 then maybe I can do a 1:43 myself,” said Sepeng after his exciting l:44.96 victory over training partner Botha who also set a personal best of 1:45.17.
That Sepeng has finally come to terms with life in the spotlight was illustrated by the events leading up to Monday’s race. After posting an Olympic qualifier of 1:45.52 early last month he went back onto a base training programme to start his preparations for Atlanta. The last thing on his or JP’s mind was a South African record. Then a media release from the promoters of the Engen Series said Sepeng was going for the record in Pretoria and it was followed up in a blaze of hype by a Sunday newspaper.
“I showed the paper to JP and he said: ‘Well that’s more pressure you could do without,’ but I told him, ‘Don’t worry. That’s not pressure for me. I can handle it now. They can write what they like.’ I knew I had trained hard and although I’m not in my best shape I’ve been training at l:43 pace and I felt I could set a personal best,” said Sepeng.
The main difference for Sepeng this year, and also for Botha, is that JP has introduced a lot more endurance work into their training programme for the build- up to Atlanta. “I could see it was working because in my first mile I ran a personal best and then I did a personal best in the 1 500m as well. I knew then that I could do 1:44 for 800m. Tonight (Monday) the weather was good, I was very relaxed and David Strang did a good job of the pace making so it all came together,” said Sepeng.
He won’t run another 800m in South Africa this season but he is hoping to break his 1 500m best again on Friday night in the Engen Summer Series final at Cape Town’s Greenpoint Stadium. Then there’s the Pepsi All Africa meeting in Johannesburg on Sunday and the national championships in Cape Town next weekend before the serious business in Atlanta where he aims to make the final. “Then anything can happen,” says Sepeng and indeed it can.
ends