Three coaches, normally responsible for the physical shape and form of their athletes, are carrying heavy emotional loads for athletes Jacques Freitag, Llewellyn Herbert and Mbulaeni Mulaudzi, who are among South Africa’s top medal hopes at the Olympic Games in Athens.
Ask Bob Cervanka, Nico van Heerden and Ian Harries, who suddenly found that they have to deal with problems that swing between over-enthusiasm, heartbreak and lack of confidence in the build-up to the Olympic dreams of their athletes.
Freitag’s intense enthusiasm had Cervanka in a state of panic during pre-Olympic competition in Switzerland on Sunday where the world champion cleared a low 2,20m to finish second in belting rain.
”It came down in buckets,” said the coach, who joined Freitag from the United States in May in his period of recovery from an ankle injury that all but shattered the young Pretorian’s Olympic dreams.
”The surface was perfect when dry, but once wet some kind of oil came to the surface and it was so slippery that it was amazing that he even cleared 2,20m.
”I kept calling to him to pull out — it was not worth the risk. But he was adamant to continue. He is so hungry to excel and he gets very stubborn. In the end, he was pussyfooting in his run-up and eventually even he had to concede that it was too dangerous to continue.
”Man, my nerves were on edge by the end of the night. But I’m very happy with his form. His 2,34m last month [Freitag’s Africa record is 2,37m] is a huge confidence booster and there’s enough time in hand to improve on his speed and technique.”
Freitag’s enthusiasm is contagious.
”I’m really chuffed with my weight right now,” beamed the 2,04m jumper who won the world title in Paris last year with 2,36m.
”I was weighing in at about 110kg earlier this year and that added to my problems that caused my ankle injury,” said Freitag in the Olympic Village on Wednesday. ”A month ago I was down to 97kg and right now I’m down to 93kg. I’ve also recovered fully from being sick before the team left for Athens.”
Another confidence booster is that Freitag’s kinesiologist, Ron Holder, who was with him every step of the way in his recovery — the doctor even stipulated his diet — has flown to London to be within a few hours’ flight to Athens if his services are needed.
Van Heerden, meanwhile, has been studying up on love and relationships to keep Herbert’s emotions on an even keel after the 400m hurdler, who won bronze at Sydney 2000, has been on an emotional roller coaster concerning his girlfriend, Letitia Roets.
”You know, when a man has got love in his life, he feels like he can swim an ocean and climb the highest mountain. But let him suddenly lose that love and he cannot even get across a swimming pool and climb the steps at the end.
”That’s where Llewellyn has been this past week,” said the coach of his charge, who bombed out in Zurich last week after a row and break-up on the phone with Roets. ”I said to him then that he must empty himself of negative emotions for just 48 seconds, then deal with it afterwards. But he couldn’t and any man who has been heartbroken will understand that.
”Now that they’ve made up and plan to get married, his spirits are flying. I’m reading a book on love and relationships right now, so I want to be able to be in a position of understanding for Llewellyn and give him the proper guidance.
”With love, he will have wings on his feet. If there’s still problems, we’ll have problems on the track.”
Meanwhile, Harries has worked on getting Mulaudzi’s mind right after he placed down the field in the 800m in Zurich.
”We did a workout of eight 400s with three minutes’ recovery on Tuesday and he averaged out at 53 and 55 seconds. That’s as good as he’s ever been when he won the World Indoor and Commonwealth Games titles. Now we know there’s nothing wrong with him physically. Now it’s a matter of getting his mind right.
”I believe he’ll be ready for Olympic competition,” said Harries. — Sapa