to win gold
Not many people have heard of Tjonkie van Rensburg, but behind his victory at the All Africa Games there is an incredible tale of triumph over adversity. Julian Drew reports
There were just 30 seconds remaining in the final gold medal bout of last Friday evening’s All Africa Games wrestling programme and the small but vociferous crowd of wrestling diehards were baying indignantly for justice. South African under-58kg freestyle wrestler Tjonkie van Rensburg was tied at 3-3 on points with Nigeria’s reigning champion, Tebe Dorgu, and the South African camp thought he had just scored a point that hadn’t been awarded.
With Van Rensburg lying breathless on the mat the referee ordered a television replay. The Nigerian had attacked Van Rensburg but couldn’t get a proper grip on his legs and Van Rensburg had managed to get behind him and bring him to his knees, which was a point-scoring move. The action had carried both wrestlers out of the mat, however, and the whistle had been blown.
The crucial point was whether the whistle had gone before Van Rensburg brought Dorgu down. The replay confirmed that it had and no point was awarded but the minute or so’s interruption had given Van Rensburg precious time to recover.
The bout continued with the restless spectators shifting nervously on their seats. With the seconds ticking away the Nigerian mustered one final charge for glory and brought Van Rensburg down, again landing outside the mat but because he had initiated the move and remained behind Van Rensburg, a point was awarded.
With the giant clock above the ring showing five seconds to go the wrestlers were ordered back to the centre of the mat. The Nigerian had been in the attacking position on the ground when the bout was stopped so Van Rensburg had to assume the par terre position, with his knees and hands on the mat and Dorgu above him with his hands flat on the South African’s back.
Those familiar with wrestling will know that the standard reaction in such a situation is for the defending wrestler to immediately fall on to his stomach to prevent his opponent getting his arms around him and throwing him. This usually results in a kind of stalemate with both wrestlers shifting and grunting on the ground looking for an opening and can last anything from 30 seconds to a minute or more.
The cause appeared lost and the crowd let out a collective sigh and resigned themselves to the inevitable defeat. Van Rensburg was having none of it, however, and remembering that all fairy stories have happy endings, conjured up some magic of his own. Instead of collapsing on to the ground he grabbed the Nigerian’s right wrist which was wrapped around his waist and, rolling on to his own back, threw the Nigerian with his left arm and scored a fall – the equivalent of a knockout in boxing. It was the most sensational act in the whole games and the hall erupted in an incredulous cacophony of jubilation and disbelief.
As with most of the minor sports at the games there were no journalists present and his incredible achievement went unreported save for a brief mention in one newspaper saying that he had won gold.
Van Rensburg (my undisputed star of the games) was a mere statistic in the results columns to all but those who witnessed his feat – which won the bout of the tournament award from the International Wrestling Federation.
But as with all great fairy stories, the happy ending was only a small part of the whole, remarkable tale.
“That was the best victory of my career. I spent Friday, Saturday and Sunday in hospital passing a kidney stone and my urologist told me I couldn’t wrestle in the games so it is even more special for me,” said a delighted but exhausted Van Rensburg afterwards.
Yes, it’s true! Van Rensburg, who is anything but the chunky wrestler one would imagine him to be, started to feel pains in his stomach on Thursday afternoon. By the following morning he was crawling around, unable to pass urine, and in agony. The South African team doctor, Dimitri Constantinou, was summoned and he immediately diagnosed a kidney stone and booked Van Rensburg into the Linksfield Clinic.
It was the day of the opening ceremony and things were looking bleak. He was put on a special drip and flushed with water and the stone eventually came out on Sunday morning.
Van Rensburg was discharged that afternoon and on Monday morning went to Nasrec for a training session. He decided to check his weight on the scales. “I couldn’t believe it but I had put on 6kg in hospital,” said Van Rensburg.
The urologist said he couldn’t possibly lose that much weight by Wednesday’s weigh- in and forbade him to take part. His team manager, Sarel Bester, told him to withdraw from the competition. Van Rensburg pleaded for more time and asked Bester to defer his decision until the weigh-in at 6pm on Wednesday.
By 1pm on D-Day he was still only 62,5kg. “My friend took me to Florida Health and Racquet Club and I put on a tracksuit, a full-length plastic suit and another tracksuit on top of that and went into the sauna and began running and working out. I stayed in for 15 minutes at a time and then came out for a breather. After an hour I weighed myself and I had lost 2kg.
“I changed into dry clothes and went in for another hour and lost another 2kg. I didn’t have any more dry clothes so I went in without clothes for another 15 minutes but I only lost about 300g. It was quarter to four and I decided to go back to Nasrec because I thought I would lose the remaining weight in the final two hours.” Van Rensburg passed the medical and then weighed in at 57,9kg, just under the weight limit.
That night he drank 500ml bottles of sports drink every half-hour to rehydrate but was still feeling weak when he went for competition the following morning. Fortunately his Madagascan opponent didn’t show up and he didn’t have to fight until the following morning.
He then beat Algeria’s Mohamed Benhamadi 9-1 but was back on the mat 20 minutes later to fight Tunisia’s Jaidi Abdelkhader. “I was too tired and I didn’t have any energy left and he beat me 3-2 but I had still scored enough technical points to reach the final against the winner of the other pool.”
At the medical before the final the doctor told him his pulse was too low and he was put on a drip. In another stroke of luck Van Rensburg’s final was the last of the evening and he had three hours to prepare himself. He told the doctor he must start the fight to win a medal but if he didn’t feel right he would retire after the first of the two rounds.
The rest, as they say, is history but fate certainly conspired in his favour, particularly with that crucial break in the final while the television replay was examined. “I was finished, klaar, when that happened. It gave me time to get my breath back.”
Van Rensburg’s moment of fame is over now and it’s back to the more sober reality of being a successful amateur in one of South Africa’s least publicised sports. Van Rensburg has won the African title three times and was 10th at the 1993 world championship, his first and only appearance at this level.
He has qualified for the Sydney Olympics next year by winning the All Africa Games but in line with the National Olympic Committee’s policy for the minor, less competitive (in Africa) sports, he must still prove himself at selected international tournaments.
One of those is next month’s world championship in Turkey where another top 10 finish would guarantee his place in Sydney.
Van Rensburg won’t be going, however. “I simply can’t afford the R7 800 I must pay to go to Turkey,” says the primary school teacher from Klerksdorp who has a wife and four children to support on a teacher’s meagre wages.
For Van Rensburg a real happy ending to his fairy tale of the past week would be a generous corporate sponsor to take him to Turkey. The more likely scenario is a classroom full of children somewhere in Klerksdorp.
“Now children, are you sitting comfortably? Once upon a time there was a wrestler called Tjonkie …”