Grant Shimmin athletics
It hasn’t been a good year for the organisers of the Engen Grand Prix Summer Series, generally speaking, but things could definitely get better tonight at Coetzenburg in Stellenbosch when the Grand Prix final takes place. Last year Michael Johnson, described by commentator Paul Dickenson as “the greatest athlete ever to walk the planet Earth”, turned it on from start to finish. The fourth-fastest 200m yet in Pietersburg, a world record in the 300m in Pretoria and a blistering hand-time in the 400m, when the electronic timing equipment unfortunately failed, at Greenpoint.
Given that the one major black spot on that series, the equipment failure, came in the last meeting, perhaps tonight will complete a reversal of fortunes in the 2001 edition. This year’s series started with the withdrawal of hurdling ace Mark Crear before the Roodepoort pipe-opener, continued with the failure of star turns Ato Boldon and Merlene Ottey to perform up to expectations at Pilditch and stumbled towards its final gathering under the weight of the news that injury had forced Ottey’s withdrawal. So what makes me think tonight will be different? Well, for starters, our man Ato is downright embarrassed about his showing in Pretoria, so much so that he’s requested an opportunity to race over 100m again in Stellenbosch, along with the 200m he was down for.
When Boldon jetted in, he was asked his feelings about cricket, given the presence of the South Africans in his native Trinidad at the time. Athletics South Africa CE Banele Sindani joked that whatever the Windies did to our boys over there would have to be reciprocated by Boldon for the benefit of the paying public in Pretoria. Turns out those words were prophetic: the West Indies took a klap and so did he. Hopefully that doesn’t mean an improvement by the Trinidadian tonight will result in a turnaround for our cricketers as well (it shouldn’t they’re not in Trinidad anymore). But I digress. Asked after his fourth place in Pretoria whether he might pose a little at Coetzenburg, Boldon, known to shrug off his shoulder straps to reveal mountains of muscle and shadow-box television cameras when he wins, replied that he’d have to perform before he would pose. So the organisers are fervently hoping for a glimpse of Trinidadian torso tonight.
While obviously disappointing, Crear’s absence through injury hasn’t turned out to be as much of a dampener on the series as it might have, thanks to two compelling battles between Shaun Bownes and young Latvian Stanislavs Olijars in the 110m event. Olijars, who fell on his face when in medal contention during the 60m hurdles final at the world indoor championships, allowing Bownes in for the bronze, has exacted revenge with two narrow victories, the last by a hundredth of a second in Pretoria.
On that occasion, Bownes set an Africa record of 13,34 seconds, qualifying for the August world championships, but professed disappointment afterwards that hitting several hurdles had cost him an even better time. So he’s up for another big one, especially, as manager Peet van Zyl says, because they’ re running at sea level. “Shaun would actually prefer to run this kind of time at the coast, because overseas athletes are a bit sceptical about times at altitude.” It’s 1-1 in the series between Olympic discus champion Virgilijus Alekna and bronze medallist Frantz Kruger who was, according to Van Zyl, “lank disappointed” not to get beyond 65m in Pretoria as he struggled for timing. So there’s another man out to make amends, though Alekna’s winning 67,52m with his first throw indicates that the challenge for Kruger is an immense one.