Athletes training at the HPC proved that hard work and dedication does pay off.  No fewer than 25 of them have qualified to represent South Africa at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.

With a bit of luck, together with ‘big match’ temperament, some of the athletes might just deliver performances that will give local sports fans something to brag about and make them feel good to be South Africans.

Judging by their performances during the past two years, it should be safe to say that Cameron van der Burgh (100m breaststroke); James Thompson and John Smith (men’s lightweight double sculls) and Kirsten McCann and Ursula Grobler (women’s lightweight double sculls) will be medal contenders.

Cameron van der Burgh, the defending Olympic champion, predicts that it will take a world record to win the gold medal in the 100m breaststroke at the Games in Rio.

This means that Van der Burgh (Tuks/HPC) will be in for a very tough challenge. Apart from having to set a new world record, he will have to do what only one swimmer has been able to do before, namely to successfully defend his Olympic 100m breaststroke title. Statistics show that Japan’s Kosuke Kitajima was the only swimmer who accomplished this feat since the 1968 Games in Mexico. He won the gold medal at the 2004 Games in Athens as well as at the 2008 Games in Beijing. In 2012 Van der Burgh won in London.

Since 2007 not a year has gone by without Van der Burgh winning at least one medal, either long or short course, at a World Championships, Olympic Games or Commonwealth Games.

Thompson and Smith were part of the ‘awesome foursome’ that won gold at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. Two years later they doubled up to win gold in the lightweight double sculls at the World Championships in Amsterdam.

McCann and Grobler won a bronze medal at last year’s World Championships in Auguebelette, France. At the Championships in Amsterdam in 2014 they finished 4th.

Smith reckons that their victory in 2012 in London was probably a breakthrough moment for South African rowing.

“In South Africa rowing in general became much bigger and more popular after we won the gold medal in London. I think our win created a belief amongst every rower in the training squad that ‘if they could do it, so can we.”

Lebogang Shange has the ability to cause a big upset in the 20km race walk. He has been like a ‘meteorite’ during the past 14 months, breaking one South African race walking record after another.

In February he proved himself capable of holding his own against the best when he finished second at the Australian 20km Race Walking Championships in Adelaide. Shange’s time was 1:20:06. If he improves by about another 20 seconds he will have a realistic chance of winning the bronze medal in Rio.

In March, when Akani Simbine set a new South African record in the 100 metres at the ASA Night Series Event at Pilditch, he was already in awesome form.  His winning time was 9.96s.  Suddenly it does not seem unrealistic for him to become only the fourth South African men’s sprinter to qualify for the 100 metres final at the Olympic Games in Rio. Reggie Walker won the gold medal in London in 1908; Wilfred Legg finished 5th in Amsterdam in 1928 and Danie Joubert was 5th in Los Angeles in 1932.

Carina Horn is another HPC athlete who might be able to do what has never been done before by a South African athlete, namely to run a time faster than 11 seconds in the women’s 100 metres.

Wenda Nel caused quite a stir last year when she qualified for the 400-hurdles final at the World Championships in Beijing. It will not be surprising if she does so again in Rio. Nel is one of the athletes who has consistently improved on her best time recently.

With consistent top-three finishes in the Diamond League, LJ van Zyl (South African 400-hurdles record holder) proved last year that he has lost none of his ‘mojo’. He has won medals at the World Championships, Commonwealth Games, African Championships and SA Championships. The only medal he still needs to complete his personal collection is an Olympic medal.

The other HPC athletes who qualified for the Games are:

Clarence Munayi (200m); Lindsay Hanekom (400-hurdles); Luvo Manyonga (long jump); Wayne Snyman (20km race walk); Marc Mundell (50km race walk); Shaun Keeling, Lawrence Brittain, Vince Breet, Jonty Smith, David Hunt, Jake Green, Lee-Ann Persse and Kate Christowitz (all rowing); Brandon Stone (golf); Emily Gray (Paralympic swimmer).

The following HPC coaches and medical staff will also go to Rio: Nikola Filipov (judo manager/coach), Lindsey Parry (triathlon manager/coach), Roger Barrow (rowing/manager coach), Kate Roberts (triathlon coach), Danielle Lincoln (doctor).