THE CORNER FLAG: Grassroots level fertile with talented athletes

The last time South Africa won a major athletics medal internationally, was during the World Athletics Championships in London in 2017.

Boasting established names such as Wayde van Niekerk and Castor Semenya, Team SA was placed third on the medals table with three gold, one silver and two bronze medals.

Since then, we’ve returned with zero gongs from three world championships (Doha 2019, Eugene 2022 and Budapest 2023) and the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.

Critics have always blamed the lack of support at the grassroots level as being the root cause of our lack of success at the senior level.

Do we lack talented youngsters in schools, townships and suburbs that Athletics South Africa (ASA) can identify and put on a high-performance programme to prepare them for future Olympic Games and world championships?

I think we have more than enough.

Let’s look at the recently concluded Central Gauteng Athletics (CGA) sub-youth track and field and cross-country championships, for example.

At the sub-youth provincials on November 18, youngsters Mahlatse Mamonyane, Lanelda Herbst and Andiphile Myeki stunned the crowd inside Germiston Stadium when they achieved personal milestones as they sought to seal their places in the CGA team for the inter-provincials.

Mamonyane, from Daveyton, has been dominant in the girls’ U11 1 200m, finishing in 04:05 twice during the league and dipping under four minutes at the provincials after breasting the tape in 03:58.

She was also among the best CGA athletes at the cross-country nationals in September, grabbing a bronze medal in her division.

Myeki, from the Katlehong Athletic Club, dominated the boys’ U11 1200m, finishing in a quick-fire 03:26 while Herbst broke the 11m mark in the last league meeting on November 14, with a monstrous 11.63m.

In the sprint events, athletes like Logan Oosthuizen from the Benoni Northerns Athletic Club (BNAC), Anzaret Strauss, from Boksburg Athletic Club, and Mieke van Wyk, continue to write their names in the 100m and 200m with van Wyk dipping under 10 seconds in the girls’ U7 60m at the provincials.

What about Chelsea van Dyk? The BNAC runner produced a spectacular run at the cross-country nationals, winning the U12 3km event in a PB of 10:49.

With all these youngsters achieving such amazing times, can we really argue we don’t have talented athletes at the grassroots level?

Are we going to continue to overlook the amazing work done by schools and coaches like Michael van Aswegen, Isaac Ndlovu, Sonja Ferreira and Glen van der Westhuizen?

Or is it a case of ASA lacking the high-performance structures to turn these athletes into Olympic medalists and world champions?

Whatever the case is, the evidence suggests otherwise. We’ve got the athletes. They just need more support from ASA.

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