Dream is over for now
Brakpan Wrestling Club’s Martin Erasmus’s dream of boarding a plane to Rio de Janeiro for this year’s Olympic Games is over.
The former Laerskool Dalview and Hoërskool Stoffberg pupil did not qualify for the games, but managed to get a respectable 18th place out of 25 contenders in an extremely tough weight division at the second “Last-Chance” Olympic Qualification Tournament in Istanbul, Turkey over the weekend.
Although disappointed, the 21-year-old was the youngest in the weight division and still has many years left to make his dream of wrestling for South Africa on an Olympic mat a reality.
He will now turn his attention to earning his spot and representing his country for the first time at the 2018 Commonwealth Games on Australia’s Gold Coast.
Erasmus will also fix his sights on a medal at the All African Games in 2019 and, naturally, a spot in Team South Africa for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan.
