Sprinter Zakithi Nene aims for Olympic glory in Paris
After narrowly missing out on the semi-finals in Tokyo, 400m racer Nene is ready to showcase his experience and skills.
Less than 44 seconds will stand between Zakithi Nene and history on what will hopefully be a clear European summer night next month.
As one of the star athletes in South Africa’s Olympic team, the ex-Ballito resident (he recently moved up the drag to Umhlanga) will be hoping to leave his mark in Paris while competing in the 400m individual and 4x400m men’s relay races.
And he enters this year’s Olympics as a repeat customer after debuting in Tokyo, where he missed semi-final qualification by just 10 tenths of a second.
But that is the ruthless standard at the upper echelon of professional athletics, where milliseconds could be the difference between glory and a gut punch after years of unrelenting training.
“I am for sure carrying a bit more experience this year,” said Zak.
“I have now competed against the top guys on the circuit for the past few years and I know what it takes to win at this level.”
By his own admission, it has so far been an up-and-down season for Zak but there have been bright spots, including a silver medal with the SA men’s 4x400m team at the World Relay Championships in the Bahamas.
“This season has been very tricky. It’s been my best in terms of workload and consistent competing but I just haven’t been running at my best level yet,” he said.
“But every athlete has the Olympics circled on their calendar and basically has a four-year programme. Now it’s just trusting my body and hoping I peak at the right time.”
Zak is already in France and will soon join the South African athletics team for training camp in Montpellier.
There he will train with his 4x400m colleagues who are flying high following their World Championship silver and are ready to prove themselves on the biggest stage of all.
Five of the country’s best 400m runners will join Nene, including world record holder Wayde van Niekerk, Lythe Pillay, Gardeo Isaacs, Antonie Nortje and reserve, Adrian Swart.
“It feels like we’ve got a good group of guys on the same wavelength and we’ve now run as a team quite a lot,” said Zak.
“Three of the team [Isaacs, Nortje and Swart] are competing only in the relay and not in the individual 400m, so they will offer fresh legs when we need them.”
The exact make-up of the team, where only four of the six can race in any given heat or final, will be decided closer to the time.
Zak will first be in action as an individual racer in the 400m heats on August 4 at 7.05pm, after which a semi-final (August 6, 7.45pm) and final (August 7, 9.20pm) beckon, should qualification go to plan.
He will again lace up for the 4x400m heats on August 9 at 11.05am and hopefully the final on August 10 at 9.12pm.
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