When Athletics South Africa (ASA) announced the team that will be competing in the IAAF World Championships in Paris from 23 to 31 August, the press release pronounced the selection’formidableâ€.
There is no doubt that South Africa has produced many fighters over the years who have held their own in the world sporting arena. The plucky Gary Player and, more recently, Ernie Els, are but two examples of a nation that has the ability to both rise to the highest heights and fall to an all-time low.
This ‘formidable team†will have to show buckets full of grit and deter-mination if they wish to better the two gold medals they brought back from their last outing in Edmonton, Canada.
Who in the 26-person team will take their place on the highest point of the winners’ rostrum? You’d have to travel beyond the mining town of Klerksdorp in North West province to the sleepy little town of Coligny to find out.
Without a doubt, it’s the town’s most famous export after maize — high jumper Hestrie Cloete, who looks set to repeat her Edmonton gold-winning performance. The country will be holding its breath when the lanky blonde does her ‘winding up cotton†routine before launching her lithe 2m frame backwards over the high bar.
But don’t hold your breath too longwaiting for another medal-worthy performance from the female ranks.
‘I don’t see much hope for the other girls when it comes to medals. Both Sunette Viljoen (Javelin) and Geraldine Pillay (100m) will be out of their depth in Paris. Heide Seyerling-Quinn (400m) and Surita Febbraio (400m hurdles) might just make the finals, but a medal — no way,†says manager Peet van Zyl.
The French event has attracted almost 2000 athletes from nearly 200 countries.
Since 1997 South Africa has only produced two world champions, Marius Corbett (in the javelin) and Hestrie Cloete (in the high jump).
The men’s category does, however, offer some hope. If the team can just click, there is a possibility that at least three trophies will arrive back on these shores.
There is no doubt that burly Free State doctor Frantz Kruger can hurl the heavy hubcap into the record books but, by his own admission, he is focusing on gold at next year’s Athens Olympics. Although his body might be in the ‘zoneâ€, his mind may be one notch shy of top gear.
The sensation of the season has got to be Mbulaeni Mulaudzi. He has overshadowed the far more experienced Hezekiel Sepeng (800m) on every outing this year and, should he believe he can stop the ‘Kenyan Expressâ€, he may well stand at the pinnacle of his sport.
If races were won on nostalgia alone, Hezekiel Sepeng would get my betting money. Immensely talented but tactically naive, he could beat the best of them at his peak. But the ravages of time could well have blunted his axe sufficiently to stop the death-blow when he is storming down the finishing straight.
Pole-vaulter Okkert Brits is the Wayne Ferreira of the athletics world — he can beat the world’s best on one day and then go and lose to some clown the next. He cleared the bar at 5,75m in Belgium last week to walk off with the winner’s spoils. So his form is intact, and if he can get his first few jumps right in an event that demands technical excellence, he may just surprise us.
Llewellyn Herbert has talent, looks and style. A simple Delmas Afrikaans boy, he can fly over those hurdles when his mind is right. High-jumper Jacques Freitag is back in form after a 10-month injury-enforced layoff. He is reportedly clearing 2,30m in practice. When that is compared to his best of 2,37m (Durban 2002), he may yet get to beat Cuban Javier Sotomayer’s lofty best of 2,46m.
For the first time ever, barrel- chested Ernest van Dyk will line up in the 1500m wheelchair race, which has been included this year as a demonstration event.