'I'm so excited for these youngsters' - Team SA return from Tokyo hopeful after solid performance

Touching down at the OR Tambo International Airport today (23 September) after doing duty at the World Athletics Championships in Japan, Team South Africa arrived to mixed reviews. While relief was written on the faces of Athletics South Africa (ASA) bosses and scribes alike following the end of a medal drought that goes back to 2017, the purists point to the lack of an individual medal as cause for serious concern.

Lythe PILLAY, Udeme OKON, Wayde VAN NIEKERK, Zakithi NENE ran 2:57.83 to take the bronze medal. The time was identical to that which was run by Team USA, but the US Team got the silver medal on the basis of a photo finish. Pillay, van Niekerk, Nene and Okon are joined by Gardeo Isaacs and Udeme Okon who ran in the semi-finals to ensure that SA qualified for the final. Photo Credit: Cecilia van Bers.

400m World Record holder Wayde van Niekerk sees things differently though. Having won two medals (400m gold and 200m silver) at #London2017, the 33-year-old was on the podium again this year as part of the men’s 4x400m team that won the country’s only medal in Tokyo - a bronze. His longevity affords him a unique and perhaps surprising perspective. Despite running the fastest split (43.26) of all 36 competitors in that 400m relay, the 2016 Olympic gold medalist insists that his performance is less exciting than that of the nation’s up and coming athletes.  

"I'm so excited for these youngsters," he said referring to schoolboys Udeme Okon and Leendert Koekemoer who were part of Mzansi’s successful relay team. "We have so many great athletes at the moment. From school level to senior level we have potential finalists. Botswana showed us that it’s possible to have two or three finalists in the 400m. There’s no reason that South Africa also can’t have two or three in the finals."

20-year-old reigning World Junior 400m Champion Okon ran in the final of the men's 4x400m relay as Team SA won the bronze medal. Photo Credit: Anton Geyser/ASA.

Yet despite breaking the 8 year drought, the facts remain; Team SA still returned home without that illusive individual medal. Olympic silver medalist Jo-Ané van Dyk's fourth place in the women’s javelin was the best effort as Zakithi Nene (fifth in the men’s 400m), Gift Leotlela (fifth in the men’s 100m), Akani Simbine (8th in the men’s 100m) and Sinesipho Dambile (8th in the men’s 200m) all finished in the top eight in the world to underline the nation’s grown depth in men’s sprinting. 

In total, six South African athletes, including Tshepo Tshite who took ninth in the men’s 1500m, progressed passed at least two rounds to reach the final. Like van Niekerk, ASA Track & Field Chairperson Jean Verster who accompanied the team to The Land of Rising Sun, sees this as a victory in the administration’s drive towards fielding a strong team at the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

Team SA pictured at the OR Tambo International Airport upon their return from the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan. Photo Credit: Cecilia van Bers.

"Our main focus going forward from last year was to building depth. We wanted bigger squads because only with bigger squads can you get competition within the squad, but also more people in finals. As a general rule I want to see development in each and every single athlete. Yes we want medals - we all know that. But when there is development and an athlete makes a semi-final or a final for the first time, that's how you grow. That kind of experience you can’t buy with money or learn out of a book."