Wesley Botton
HEIDELBERG – South Africa’s track and field athletes returned from the IAAF World Championships in London last week with a bagfull of medals, and one of Heidelberg’s greatest sporting sons very nearly played a key role in the team’s remarkable performance.
Proving this year he was still a force at international level, nine years after bagging an Olympic silver medal, long jumper Khotso Mokoena produced a leap of 8.19m in Weinheim in May.
Though his world-class effort was enough to qualify for the biennial global championships, Mokoena was ranked fourth in the country in SA’s strongest athletics discipline.
With the national team limited to three athletes per event, he narrowly missed out on a place in the squad by just three centimetres and was forced to watch from the sidelines. While Mokoena was unlucky not to get the nod, the SA team delivered in spectacular fashion.
Competing against over 200 countries, they raked in six medals (three gold, one silver and two bronze) to finish third in the final standings behind the United States and Kenya. Punching well above their weight, the 27-member SA team defeated larger squads from powerhouse nations including hosts Great Britain and China.
In Mokoena’s absence, national record holder Luvo Manyonga and African champion Ruswahl Samaai carried the national flag in the men’s long jump final. Manyonga earned the gold medal with a leap of 8.48m and Samaai took bronze with a best jump of 8.32m.
Sprinter Wayde van Niekerk was also in superb form, nearly making history in his attempt to become only the second man after American legend Michael Johnson to win the 200m and 400m events.
After retaining his 400m title in 43.98 seconds, Van Niekerk returned to the track two days later to grab silver in the 200m final in 20.11, charging across the line 0.02sec behind Turkish winner Ramil Guliyev.
Middle-distance runner Caster Semenya was equally impressive.
Having secured bronze in the women’s 1 500m event in 4:02.90, Semenya reclaimed the 800m title with a dominant victory in the final in 1:55.16, breaking her own national record.
Other athletes who impressed at the 10-day spectacle included race walker Lebogang Shange, who put up a brave fight to finish fourth in the men’s 20km race in a new SA record of 1:19:18, and sprinter Akani Simbine who overcame a hip injury to finish fifth in the men’s 100m final in 10.01.
It was the team’s best medal haul in the nation’s 24-year history at the World Championships, improving on the four medals bagged in Paris in 2003.
“I think it’s about hard work and dedication,” Semenya said of the team’s success.
“We’ve been inspired by other generations. We had great runners before, and what we’re trying to do is improve and take over.
“We’re hungry now, and being in the top three in the world is the best thing that has ever happened to us.”
*Botton is a Heidelberg resident and chief sports writer at The Citizen.
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