Jovan van Vuuren brilliantly managed to make the old saying “cometh the hour cometh the man” come true during the recent South African Athletics Championships in Cape Town.

At the start of the last round of the long jump item during the national championship, the Tuks student was second. Cheswill Johnson had jumped 8.02 metres, while Van Vuuren’s best was 7.92 metres. With the wind blowing as it did, there were no guarantees. Every jump boiled down to a gamble.

“I had so many thoughts crossing my mind when I lined up for the last jump. For a moment, I thought winning silver would still be a good result. But that was only for a moment. I had worked too hard to give up. I had to make my last jump count. If it did not work out, so be it. Knowing I gave it my all was all that mattered,” Van Vuuren explained afterwards.

He said the fear of overstepping made him overcompensate during most of his previous attempts.

“Even during my last jump, I hardly touched the board. But it did not matter, because I had jumped 8.04 metres to win my first national title. The fact that I had jumped further than eight metres made it more special. I have become slightly snobbish this season. Eight metres is my benchmark,” he remarked.

What made winning gold more memorable for Van Vuuren, was being congratulated by Raswahl Samaai.

“I texted him before the competition, saying I wished he was with us competing. Raswahl, unfortunately, tested positive for Covid,” he said.

Samaai won gold during last year’s national championships. Van Vuuren was second. The Tuks student is only the seventh athlete to win the long jump at the South African Championships in 20 years.

According to his coach, Neil Cornelius, going big on the last jump is something they worked on the whole season.

“Too often, I have seen how the Americans win gold with an impressive last jump. It is because they never give up. I want Jovan to be able to do the same. So often, we will create our own ‘do or die moment’ during training. It is to get Jovan used to performing under pressure. It paid off,” Cornelius explained.

The respected coach pointed out that they also worked on getting Van Vuuren to consistently jump further than eight metres.

“So far this season, he has done so in each competition. It led to him still being unbeaten. That breakthrough moment is bound to happen if he can continue doing so,” Cornelius concluded.

Van Vuuren can now start preparing with greater confidence for the Commonwealth Games, which will be on his program later this year, as well as possible qualification for the World Championships.

Do you have more information about the story?

Please send us an email to editorial@rekord.co.za or phone us on 083 625 4114.

For free breaking and community news, visit Rekord’s websites: Rekord East

For more news and interesting articles, like Rekord on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Instagram