Every athlete has a story to tell about that one moment that changed everything for them. Local 400m star, Thapelo Phora, who will compete at the Tokyo Olympic Games, is no exception.

Speed was always sort of his thing. Growing up in Mamelodi, there was nothing he loved more than to challenge others to race against him. Phora always won. It led to him believing his fastest kid in town. Unbeatable.

But one day, everything changed. Phora remembers his friends calling him, telling him there is someone he has to race. Some predicted that he is going to lose. It was a challenge Phora could not resist.

As luck would have it, his mom had given him R20 to buy some groceries. Phora was so confident in his abilities that he decided to bet on the outcome of his duel. He reasoned that his mom would never find out that he used her money to gamble.

“It was a big mistake. I got smoked in the sprint. I was too scared and ashamed to tell my mom what had happened. I made her believe I lost the money by being negligent,” he said during a recent interview.

Getting beaten was a reality check for him. It made him realise that he needs to find a way to be faster.

He continues the story: “So, I started doing some research. It was suggested that I join a club. There was talk about Tuks being a good club. So, I went to Tuks and told someone in an office I want to be a proper athlete. I was introduced to Nico van Heerden who started to coach me.”

By 2019 he had improved his personal best to 45.19s. The Tuks athlete considers running the semi-finals during the 2019 World Championships in Doha as his best performance up to now. He clocked a time of 45.24s.

Other highlights were winning silver at the 2018 African Championship and the 2019 Africa Games.

According to Phora, the 400 metres is the ultimate race. To succeed, you need to be disciplined and not scared to put in the long hard hours.

The past year had not been easy. Phora needed to resolve some personal issues. It led to him being off the track for nearly a year. He only started racing in May again. In his first race, he clocked 45.99s.

Phora is, however, confident of being much faster in Tokyo.

“My goal is to qualify for the Olympic final. I fully realise it means pushing myself to the utmost, making peace with the pain that comes with it. To me, sub 45 seconds is doable,” he remarked.

Phora has a good reason for being so motivated. He is the father of a six-year-old daughter, Zinhle.

“I am running to make her proud. But there is more to it. Athletics is my career. It is how I hope to support my family. The only way I can succeed is to run fast times. The quicker, the better because then the pay checks are bigger, which means I can send my daughter to the best schools. She must get a good education,” he concluded.

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