The seventh All Africa Games have been plagued by problems before they have even started, but they still provide the opportunity to see some great athletes in action, writes Julian Drew
Much has been said and written about the “African renaissance”, but no event is more perfectly suited to mobilising South Africans behind this cause than the seventh All Africa Games that open in Johannesburg on Friday.
South Africans have proved particularly fickle in their support of major sporting events in the past, especially when their own teams are not playing. Now is the time to show what sports-loving people we are. Never before have so many great sportsmen and women been so accessible with events spread across the length and breadth of Johannesburg and ticket prices reduced to a minimum.
Local sports fans will have plenty to cheer about during the 10 days of competition. The South African team is expected to once again finish top of the medal table as it did in Harare where it won 151 medals (62 gold) against Egypt’s 150 (60 gold).
Even though there is one less sports code on the programme following the omission of shooting, there will still be more medals on offer than ever before with the introduction of women’s events in taekwondo, weightlifting and wrestling. South Africa should comfortably beat its total in Harare with home ground advantage and better preparation. The real contest could be between Nigeria and Egypt for the runner-up spot, with both having sent scaled-down teams.
Exactly how many countries will compete will only be apparent when they have all arrived and checked into the village, but the record of 46 from Harare is expected to be broken. Unfortunately, Morocco will once again be absent as it has been since 1978 due to its suspension from the Organisation of African Unity because of the situation in Western Sahara.
With such a vast array of sports on offer it is difficult to know where to go to catch the best of the games. In athletics, many of the world’s best athletes will be on show but the highlight is likely to be the men’s 800m. World silver medallist Hezekiel Sepeng and world indoor champion Johan Botha will be up against the mighty Kenyans and Algeria’s bronze medallist from Seville, Djabir Said-Guerni. With altitude having no effect over this distance it should be a thrilling race with a fast time if it doesn’t turn into a cat and mouse, tactical affair.
Hestrie Storbeck-Cloete recovered well from her setback in Seville and she will be hoping to jump 2m for the first time in South Africa to finish off a season which has seen her catapult to the top of the world rankings.
South Africa should also dominate the throwing events with the exception of the women’s hammer.
But, in the likely absence of Frankie Fredericks, the Nigerians should clean up in the sprints, with the Kenyans and Ethiopians doing likewise in the longer events. Both Nigeria’s Fatima Yusuf (200m) and Mozambique’s Maria Mutola (800m) will be going for their third successive gold medals at these games.
At the other side of the Ellis Park precinct, South Africa’s swimmers should win every gold on offer except for the women’s freestyle sprints. They are likely to fall to Egypt’s Rania Elwany who won 10 gold medals at the recent Pan Arab Games in Jordan.
There is no doubt though that it is Penny Heyns who most people will go to watch at the swimming. She set a short-course world record last weekend at the same complex – a discipline in which she is less competitive than the long course she will swim in the games – and there could still be more records to come despite the fact that she is physically and mentally exhausted.
Heyns is not the only star in the swimming team, however. Brendon Dedekind won gold in the 50m freestyle at the Pan Pacific championships while Terence Parkin and Sarah Poewe both won bronze in the 200m breaststroke.
Nasrec is home to all the martial arts, and for boxing, judo and wrestling the competitions form part of the Olympic qualifying route to Sydney 2000. South Africa has some fine boxers in its team but with bantamweight Silence Mabuza the only survivor from Harare, they are desperately short of international experience. That counts for far more in the amateur game where it is technical skill rather than brute force that scores points and wins the day.
Light-flyweight Phumzile Mathyila and flyweight Zolani Marali from the renowned Eyethu Boxing Club in East London are two of South Africa’s brightest hopes. Along with Mabuza, middleweight Danie Venter and super-heavyweight Osborne Mashimana, they are the best bets to finish in the medals that will book an automatic place at the Olympics.
On the judo tatami Henry Wessels (-66kg) and Shaun King (-90kg) on the men’s side and Liezl Downing (-52kg), Henriette Bezuidenhout (-63kg) and Sally Buckton (- 70kg) on the women’s side are the top contenders for medals in a sport where the North Africans are the ones to beat. South Africa is much stronger in freestyle wrestling than Greco-Roman and can be expected to win more medals in this discipline where use of the legs for trips and holds is permitted.
In team sports like handball, volleyball and basketball South Africa is unlikely to make it to the medal podium but for those who wonder what handball is all about, take a trip out to Randburg and catch the Egyptians in action. They have been ranked sixth in the world for the past four years in this extremely fast and exciting game.