South African champion Hezekiel Sepeng and world indoor champion Mbulaeni Mulaudzi — both Olympic medal contenders — get together in the 800m on Friday night in Zurich for the first time on European soil this year to feel out their opposition for the two-lap showpiece in Athens.
Except for the odd niggle and running nose, there are only glowing reports at the University of Pretoria training camp as the South African Olympic team undergo final preparations for their departure to Athens on Tuesday.
There is lively interest in the build-ups of South Africa’s two 800m dynamos in the Weltklasse meeting at Zurich. The meeting will provide a fairly accurate indicator of form in the run-up to the Olympics, especially after Mulaudzi’s third place in one minute and 45,9 seconds at Crystal Palace in London last Friday night where he beat Algerian world champion Djabir Said Guerni.
Mulaudzi, a terrier-like fighter in a race, is sharpening up after recovering from glandular fever and a foot injury that kept him out of most of the European circuit. He is itching for a return of his strong finish after losing the national title to Sepeng in Durban in March.
”Both of them are on a tightrope to peak at the right time for the Olympics,” said South Africa’s track-and-field manager, Wilfred Daniels, after the Olympic Day 10km fun run at Tukkies on Sunday.
”These are exciting times for the team and I’ve never felt the spirit so positive in my years of involvement with the track and field athletes.”
Daniels said that chances are they will come up against other Olympic medal contenders Yuriy Borzakovskiy and Wilson Kipketer.
Llewellyn Herbert, the bronze-medal winner in the 400m hurdles at the Sydney Olympics, said that he is well on the way to recovery from a recent bout of sickness that saw him fall back from second fastest in the world this year behind Felix Sanchez to stone last at a meeting in Paris St Denis a fortnight ago.
”I’ll travel to Athens with the Olympic team on Tuesday, then I move on to Zurich,” said Herbert. ”I’ve also had to get over a touch of flu, but I’m feeling strong. My health is returning and that’s the important thing.â€
Sepeng, Mulaudzi, Herbert, world high-jump champion Hestrie Cloete and Frantz Kruger — the bronze-medal winner in the discus at the Sydney Olympics — will be in action at the Zurich meeting.
Daniels also had good news about the injury recovery rates of pole-vaulter Okkert Brits, 400m hurdler Alwyn Myburgh and men’s world high-jump champion Jacques Freitag.
”Okkert was training on the runway here in Pretoria and he was showing good form,” said Daniels of the mercurial Commonwealth Games champion who had a recent setback with a hamstring problem.
”He underwent a strenuous fitness test under the supervision of the medical team and they report that he is at least six days ahead of his anticipated recovery rate. He has returned to Stellenbosch with his coach, Jopie Loots.â€
Brits was given special permission by the National Olympic Committee of South Africa to remain in Stellenbosch where he is under the watchful eye of a medical team.
He need not depart on Tuesday night and has been given leave until August 12 to join the team in Athens.
Freitag continues to train free of pain after recovering from an ankle injury that threatened to sideline him from the Olympics.
”He is clearing 2,29m in training with ease, so he’s spot on target for where he wants to be by the time he competes in Athens,” said Daniels.
Myburgh, who suffered an elbow injury during a fall, has also fully recovered and showing his best form in training this year.
”He did six sets of 300m flats during last week with an average of 32 seconds each,” said Daniels. ”The camp is impressed.†— Sapa