Talented runner dreams of going to Beijing

Folavio Sehohle (23) runs a personal best of 03:39:41 in the 1 500 metres and a 01:48:36 in the 800 metres. He recently returned from Stockholm, Sweden where he competed in a few events in Strandberg and Oslow. On condition that he was in world class shape, he could have been in the South African team at the Commonwealth 
Games 2014. 

Samson Ngoepe is a South African runner who specialises in the 800 metres and persuaded Sehohle to move to the Lowveld in 2011.

“As a young boy I would go to watch Ngoepe run and then after the race, ask him for his autograph. I was running school league at the time and at one event Ngoepe recognised me – from there on we have been very good friends. After matric I looked for a coach. He saidI must come to one of his training sessions at Mbombela.” The 29-year-old is currently coached by Charl Naudé. He competed in the 800 metres event at the 2008 Olympic Games, disappointingly not reaching the final.

“After one training session with Charl, I decided that I need to move here as soon as possible. In just three weeks my personal best improved by almost five seconds.”

Naudé is a well-known coach in the marathon industry and is currently coaching at Hoërskool Nelspruit. “Dr Louis Swanepoel, principal at NHS helped me with a place to stay and I have never looked back. Samson knew what is expected of an athlete as he had been to the Olympics Games.”

In 2012 at the South African Championships, Sehohle placed seventh. He is not proud of this result as he explains that his mind was not at the right place. Three weeks later he competed in the Open Championships in Pretoria and won gold.

That same year he got a call from Spain and was invited to run in various grand prix races in Brazil, Venezuela and Macau in Hong Kong. In Macau he did a half-marathon where he came second in 60:04.

Last year he again competed in the SA Champs in Stellenbosch and received a bronze medal in the 1 500 metres. After this event, he received another invitation to go to Madrid in Spain. “I went to Spain for two and a half months. It was a whole new challenge. I had no coach, no friends and I missed my family terribly. I had to win competitions to stay alive to pay for my living expenses. I ran in Portugal, Madrid, Paris and Monaco and I was pacemaker in Bilboa, Barcelona and Huelva. I came back six days earlier as things were getting tough.”

He planned to train for this year’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Moscow but got knocked out in the semis. “I was skinny and only had seven days to train for the qualifying rounds. I had no energy, had body fat of -4 and clocked in at only 49kg.”

As of this season, Sehohle cannot be happier with his improvement. “I am more motivated than ever. I am dreaming to join the South African team going to Beijing next year and for the next Olympics in Rio 2016. I’m in good shape and want to go to Kenya as soon as possible to learn from athletes like Wilson Kiprop who specialises in the 10 000 metres and half-marathon. The only problem is finances. I don’t know when I will get an opportunity like this again. Those athletes know how to stay focused and I want to gain knowledge from them. I am tired of just taking pictures everywhere I go. I want to be more than that!”

Anyone interested to make this athlete’s dream come true, can phone him on 073-325-6977.