Coetzee overcomes severe back-injury to win SA title
The 23-year old Margo-Chené Coetzee won her first senior South African title in the hammer throw for women after she had to overcome persistent back problems.
At the moment the name Margo-Chené Coetzee might not mean anything to athletics fans, but the local athlete might be just the one to help revive an interest in South African athletics women’s field events.
At the recent national championships in Pretoria the 23-year old won the women’s hammer throw with a distance of 58.97m. Her performance ranks her fourth on South Africa’s all-time list.
Her best is undoubtedly yet to come. For the past three years, she has been battling a severe back injury which made it near impossible for her to throw. But she was never going to give up on her dreams.
It was the hammer throw coach at TuksAthletics, Renaldo Frechou, who has helped her change her technique to such an extent that she is not in constant pain every time she throws.
Coetzee has made peace with the fact that pain is forever going to be part of her life as long as she competes but at least now it bearable. She is confident of being able to throw further.
“There are still a few small little things in my technique that I got to work on if I get that sorted there is no reason why I can’t get past 60 metres. Something I got to work on is to keep my emotions intact after throwing a big one. I should not allow myself to get side-tracked afterwards,” she said after winning the SA title.
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