Hamman qualifies for the Games in 400-hurdles
A third athlete of Pretoria qualified last weekend in the 400 hurdles for the Olympics.
Le Roux Hamman proved that perseverance does pay off.
When he won the 400-hurdles in a time of 49.24s at the BestMed-Mondo Meeting on Saturday, he also qualified for the Olympic Games. It was only the second time he was able to run a time faster than 50 seconds.
For five years Hamman was considered to be just another also-run in local 400-hurdles races. Try as he might he just could not break through the 50 seconds barrier. But the Tukkie athlete was never going to abandon his dreams and he resolutely kept on training.
The first indication that Hamman was improving was when he won the 400-hurdles at the Varsity Cup meeting at the University of Johannesburg in a time of 49.99s earlier this year.
“It was certainly the breakthrough I had been working for but, to be honest, running 49.99s did not really make me feel as if I had gone faster than 50 seconds.”
Even minutes after his 49.24s victory Hamman still grappled to fully comprehend what he had achieved.
The South African 400-hurdles champion and one of Hamman’s training partners, LJ van Zyl (Tuks/HPC), was one of the first to congratulate him.
“The fact that I ran 49.24s has not yet sunk in. I am just grateful. Actually it was 50/50 whether I would run at all. I had flu this week and trained only on Tuesday. The rest of the week I was mostly in bed. I only decided when I woke up this morning (Saturday) that I was going to compete.”
Hamman credited his coach, Irma Reyneke, for his breakthrough.
“We analysed what works and does not work for me. We came to the conclusion that my body is more suited to lactic-workouts. I don’t like speed and speed is hard on my body. I am more of an endurance racer who tends to become stronger towards the end of a race,” he said.
Hamman will not compete at the African Championships in Durban because South Africa is only allowed to enter three athletes per event. Van Zyl, Cornel Fredericks and Lindsay Hanekom will be the athletes competing. Hamman hinted that his next big goal will be to dip under 49 seconds.
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