Gert Thys steps out from the shadow of Josiah Thugwane, but he’s finding that fame doesn’t necessarily pay, reports Michael Finch
For some, the second-greatest moment of the Olympic marathon was when Josiah Thugwane raised his right index finger as he crossed the finishing line.
For the historians it was a moment to record and will forever remain a landmark in South Africa’s sporting history.
But for pure patriotic enjoyment, the defining moment of the race had come just an hour earlier.
With the best field in the world assembled, Thugwane’s team-mate Lawrence Peu surged to the front at the 28km mark opening up a 150m gap and before anyone could say “Jislaaik”, he was joined by both Thugwane and Gert Thys.
The sight was enough to give you goose bumps, as the three South Africans, dressed in their green and off-colour yellow outfits, surged clear.
American commentators were beside themselves. There was talk of a South African 1-2-3 and the South African team headquarters in the athletes village had a better vibe than Ellis Park when Joel Stransky kicked the winning drop goal to win the rugby World Cup.
The surge immediately caused a reaction, splitting the main field as the favourites fought to come back.
Much like a boxer, the South Africans had delivered an oxygen-sapping body blow and it was eventually left to Thugwane to land the knock-out punch.
On that day, Thys finished 33rd as his blood sugar level dropped over the final 5km in the excruciating heat after he, and not Thugwane, had been tipped as the man to perform best of the South Africans.
Since that day Thugwane has become a national hero, establishing a new South African record in Fukuoka in 1997, while Thys seemed destined to play the bridesmaid.
Until last weekend that is.
On a snappy Tokyo morning, the bearded little man with the short, rhythmic stride and high arms made history when he became the second- fastest marathoner of all time on his way to victory at the Tokyo marathon.
His winning of two hours, six minutes and 33 seconds eclipsed Thugwane’s national best of 2:07:28 by the proverbial mile and only Ronaldo da Costa’s mark of 2:06:05, run in Berlin five months ago, is better.
It allowed the 27-year-old to finally step out from behind Thugwane’s mythically big shadow and he can now count himself alongside Thugwane as one of the five best marathoners in the world.
Ironically, just three days after his victory in Tokyo, it emerged that he and Thugwane have yet to receive any assistance from either Athletics South Africa (ASA) or the National Olympic Committee’s (Nocsa) Operation Excellence Programme.
The two only received ASA’s draft athlete contracts on Tuesday and, according to sources, the contracts require athletes to make too many commitments to ASA sponsors.
Athletes are required to return the draft contract to ASA by February 26.
As for Nocsa, they have already offered the likes of world javelin champion Marius Corbett, world championships silver medallist Llewelyn Herbert, and Thugwane a monthly contract of – wait for it -R750 a month!
Compare that to the R220E000 Thys won in Tokyo and the R200E000 both he and Thugwane can command in appearance fees, and it is clear that Nocsa’s fees are way short of the mark.
The lack of remuneration extends to prize money in local races, and already Hendrik Ramaala, ASA’s athlete of the year in 1998 and a silver medallist at the World Half- Marathon champs, has indicated that he may be lost to South African track and roads because it is simply not worth his while to run in his home country.
On that basis, Thugwane and Thys will almost certainly be lost, while the likes of Herbert and Corbett are forced to compete to ensure they are selected for major events like the world championships, Olympics and Commonwealth Games.