Professional athletes are people, just like the rest of us

Midway through his post-race interview on Thursday, Akani Simbine started choking up, and as much as he tried to hold them back, the tears started flowing.

It’s not the first time I’ve seen an athlete cry in an interview, and it won’t be the last, but it is a reminder that they are human beings.

Simbine is one of South Africa’s most consistent athletes in any sport, and he rarely has a bad run, but when he opened his season with a painfully slow performance earlier this year, the media lashed out and his opponents took the chance for a rare crack at him in an attempt to rattle his confidence.

And as tough as he might be on the track, his reaction after winning the national 100m title this week showed for perhaps the first time in his career that he can be vulnerable.

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While Simbine was locked in a flood of emotion, his biggest rival, Wayde van Niekerk, was dealing with public pressure of his own.

After withdrawing from the SA Senior Championships in Cape Town – a decision which was made on the eve of the event due to a hamstring niggle – Van Niekerk was criticised for not being more open and honest about his condition.

But it’s not like that. Van Niekerk followed the rules and prepared to make an official announcement, but a media leak spoiled his attempt to do things properly.

It’s that sort of behaviour from the media, which didn’t have enough respect to abide by an embargo, that makes an athlete look bad for no reason.

He wasn’t in Cape Town this week, but Van Niekerk couldn’t be blamed if he was as frustrated by people’s comments as Simbine.

Our failure, as the media and fans, is that we forget these athletes are just people.

They have the same emotions as the rest of us, yet we often treat them like commodities, ready to be bought and sold.

To be clear, I’m not suggesting athletes should be wrapped in cotton wool. If you’re a professional in any field, you must be prepared to take some criticism, but in the same way that the rest of us are respected as people at work, we must remember that elite athletes deserve the same respect.

When we bring athletes to tears, or give them sleepless nights, then we’re not treating them like people. We’re treating them like property, to be bashed about however we please.

Simbine has good reasons for his slower than usual start to the season, and Van Niekerk had his reasons for taking the approach he did this week, and neither of them did anything wrong.

Their frustration in these instances was caused by us, so we must rap ourselves on the knuckles and remind each other that we all have rights. And athletes are people too.