Amid the screams of young children, Oleg Vizer is trying to bring order to the room of gymnastic hopefuls so he can run them through their routines.
Vizer, the coach at the Klerksdorp School of Gymnastics, is overseeing children aged between six and 17 who are chasing one another around and giggling uncontrollably.
”Quiet, please,” he screams. ”Let’s not waste time. We are left with only one week.”
The gymnasts are preparing for the Zone Six Youth Games, to be held in Potchefstroom next month, where they will perform at the opening ceremony.
As they settle down, the opening ceremony music plays and the young gymnasts are all business, moving into groups and going through their routines. In the space of two minutes the talent displayed is palpably obvious as a proud Vizer looks on.
But such talent is likely to go to waste if the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) doesn’t establish a national academy that will ensure the children’s talent is not neglected. These children should be our Olympic medal-winners and not just hopefuls.
One gymnast whose talent has to be nurtured is that of 17-year-old Sibongile Mjekula, who should be intensely focused for the 2012 Olympics in London.
Little-known Mjekula won two bronze medals in the rope and the ribbon routines last month at the World Gymnastics Championships in Taipei.
”I just don’t how to describe her talent, but as you have seen for yourself she is amazing and always willing to learn,” says Vizer. ”I have no doubt that she will win an Olympic medal one day.”
Mjekula, from Jouberton in Potchefstroom, started doing gymnastics at six, an age which is advisable for gymnasts. At the time she was doing what’s called artistic.
”Artistic [gymnastics] is what most of us do when we start,” she says, ”because you use your strength and when you can master that then you can move to rhythmic [gymnastics], which requires more flexibility.”
It all started as fun when the South African Gymnastics Federation’s officials came to Edisang Primary School looking for young gymnasts with potential. Mjekula was among the top 10 who were chosen from 8 000 children across the country.
”We were going to get special training and represent the country whenever the opportunity came,” Mjekula says.
Her claim to fame came in 2004 when she represented South Africa at the African Championships in Senegal, where she won a gold medal. Mjekula was the 2005 and 2006 African Junior Championships champion and won a gold medal at the 2005 Arafura Games in Australia.
Mjekula turned senior last year and her first competition was the World Championships in Greece, but she didn’t win anything there. ”Unlike at the junior level where I used to win, the competition is now very high. But I’m happy that I won my first medals last month as a senior,” she says.
Her main focus is on the 2012 Olympic Games. ”I don’t just want to go there, but to win a medal. I want my ticket to the Olympics and will work hard to get it. But the biggest challenge here in the country is that there are only about seven senior professional gymnasts and there is no competition,” Mjekula says.
For now she can only hope that a national academy is established, which would come in handy if she is to realise her Olympic dream.