The first week of the Olympics has thrown up some pleasant surprises to counter the disappointments
Grant Shimmin As I looked down from the media centre overlooking the Sydney International Aquatic Centre’s warm-up pool early on Wednesday evening, Graham Hill walked by, clad in his South African shirt and with a tattoo of the national flag on his cheek. Before he disappeared from view, I waved to him before making a circle with my thumb and forefinger and placing it on my chest. He knew what that meant, but he simply shrugged his shoulders, the nerves evident on his face. I reckon Hill knew something, though, like we did. When the line-up for the 200m breaststroke final appeared on the electronic scoreboard, there was no Ed Moses or Simon Cowley, neither the American nor the Australian having survived his country’s national trials, and there was no Roman Sloudnov, the potent Russian having perished in the heats. It was clear that, apart from the Itali-an pair of Domenico Fiorovanti and Davide Rummolo, there was no one in the field that Terence Parkin needed to stand back for. When I first met Parkin and interviewed him through Hill at a Westville gym, he was preparing for the 1998 Commonwealth Games. When I asked the deaf teenager’s coach how far he believed his charge could go in world swimming, he replied: “I don’t want you to quote me now, because it would put too much pressure on him, but I believe Terence can go on to win an Olympic medal.” In Kuala Lumpur that year, Parkin didn’t manage a medal. A year later, at the Pan Pacific championships in Sydney’s Olympic pool, he cracked a bronze, but the Europeans weren’t there. On Wednesday, with the Europeans out in force in the shape of the Italian pair in the show lanes, he struck.
It wasn’t just the timing of the swim in the context of the 20-year-old’s own career that was significant, but its effect on the South African team. It hadn’t just been Penny Heyns’s failure to defend her 100m breaststroke title. The team had flown into the midst of the fastest meet yet, with swimmers suddenly confronted with times previously unheard of in their events of choice, and the mood had clearly been subdued, not helped by Heyns’s announcement that, to all intents and purposes, the game was up for her. Against that background, with the media steadily revising the medal predictions downwards, Parkin’s swim was a masterstroke for himself and the team. Parkin is what the Aussies would refer to as “a bolter”, someone who bolts from the pack to make a name for himself. Prior to Parkin’s swim, team manager Wayne Riddin had released an interim report to the media detailing the performances of each swimmer in Australia and stressing that on the first three days of competition, South Africa had had five finalists, equalling the number in Atlanta. The message smacked a little of damage limitation, with concern growing that no more medals would be won in the pool, and Riddin may wish he’d waited a little longer to circulate it. He had a point, though. Even those who hadn’t reached finals had been racking up the national records, the only major disappointments being Charlene Wittstock and Simon Thirsk in the backstroke events. Butterfly ace Mandy Loots had set four national marks in as many swims without making a final, Helene Muller had set a national mark in the 200m freestyle while Sarah Poewe had improved her personal best by more than a second in the course of her surge to fourth place in the 100m breaststroke.
Now all we need to hope for is a continuation of that trend, particularly from Ryk Neethling in the 1E500m freestyle. It may not mean another medal, but it would contribute to the best collective performance yet by a South African team. If Parkin’s swim was impressive, the performance of our rowers has matched it, with both the women’s pair of Colleen Orsmond and Helen Fleming and their male counterparts, Donovan Cech and Ramon di Clementi, taking the shortest route to Saturday’s finals, where they will race in consecutive events. It’s a spectacular turnaround for Orsmond and Fleming, who looked to have been ruled out of the games before the backdoor was opened by the National Olympic Committee of South Africa in April. Given that they beat the formidable Australian and Canadian crews in their heat, a medal is definitely possible. The men’s lightweight coxless four are set to contest their semifinal on Friday, with a slot in Sunday’s A final the prize. There have been disappointments: our archers, baseballers, shooters and judo entrant Tania Tallie failing to make a major impression. And after beating Brazil, the under-23 soccer team suffered a disappointing 2-1 reverse against Slovakia to tumble out of the tournament. But there has been plenty to shout about. For boxers Jeffrey Mathebula and Danie Venter, just making it beyond the first round was a triumph, and both were deserving victors, and the performance of the women’s hockey side in fighting back from 2-0 down against the Dutch for a 2-2 draw showed admirable courage. Others will be hoping to join that roll of honour starting on Friday, when the track and field programme takes off in the magnificent Olympic stadium. With the 100m (Mathew Quinn) and 400m (Hendrick Mokganyetsi, Arnaud Malherbe, Heide Seyerling) first-round heats on, shot- putter Burger Lambrechts should be our first athletics finalist, hopefully accompanied by at least one of Janus Robberts and Karel Potgieter.
Saturday is a red-letter day for Atlanta silver medallist Hezekiel Sepeng, 1999 world indoor champion Johan Botha and another potential “bolter”, Werner Botha, as they begin their 800m onslaught, while Elmarie Gerryts will attempt to qualify for the first women’s pole vault final. Sunday sees our strongest medal hopes, Llewellyn Herbert and Frantz Kruger, out of the blocks in the 400m hurdles and discus respectively, along with Shaun Bownes in the 110m hurdles. On Wednesday Okkert Brits has another chance to prove his detractors wrong in the pole vault, while Elana Meyer seeks to revive memories of Barcelona eight years ago in the first round of the 10 000m. On Thursday Hestrie Cloete puts her status as last year’s top high jumper on the line in the qualifying rounds. Away from the track, the other major assignment belongs to sprint canoeists Ruth Nortje and Alan van Coller. Both start their onslaught on the titles in the 500m K1 events on Wednesday, although Van Coller will also contest the 1 000m on Tuesday. After Garen Bloch’s solid eighth place in the men’s 1km time trial at the Duncan Gray Velodrome, his road cycling counterparts, Robbie Hunter and David George, face the gruelling road race on Wednesday. By then the women’s cross-country mountain bike event on Saturday will be a distant memory for our only contender in a field of 30, Erica Green.