The Class of 2016: A generation of Olympic stars gone too soon

Less than six years after South Africa raked in a historic 10 medals at the Rio Olympics, there has been a complete changing of the guard, and if the SA team are going to secure podium places at the 2024 Paris Games, they will have to turn to a new breed of younger stars.

At the 2016 Rio Games the squad was superb, and with most of the medallists ranging between the ages of 23 and 25, the future looked bright in Olympic codes.

Now, however, as we look ahead to Paris, those performances are little more than distant memories.

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The SA team’s two gold medallists in Rio, sprinter Wayde van Niekerk and Caster Semenya, are shadows of their former selves on the international circuit.

Van Niekerk has struggled to regain his best form since picking up a knee injury in 2017, and though the 400m world record holder remains confident that he can make a full comeback, he was eliminated in the semifinals at last year’s Tokyo Olympics and it has been nearly five years since he last dipped under 44.50.

Semenya, meanwhile, is still not allowed to compete in her favoured 800m event without taking hormone suppressants, and while she continues to participate over the 5 000m distance, she is just not as competitive over 12-and-a-half-laps.

Meanwhile, long jumper Luvo Manyonga and javelin thrower Sunette Viljoen, who earned silver medals in Rio, have both essentially retired from competition, along with swimmer Cameron van der Burgh.

Similarly, after bagging two silvers in Rio, Chad le Clos has passed his best, though he is still battling away in the pool.

Le Clos secured five medals at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and two bronze medals at the 2019 World Championships, but he missed out on the podium at the Tokyo Olympics and the 30-year-old former giant killer withdrew from the World Championships in Budapest last month.

Elsewhere, Rio bronze medallist Henri Schoeman went on to win gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, but he hasn’t stepped on the podium for more than three years in the Triathlon World Series and he did not finish the Tokyo Olympics due to an ankle injury.

The rowing pair of Lawrence Brittain and Shaun Keeling are also no longer a force, with Keeling having retired from competition and Brittain forming part of the SA men’s four who settled for fourth place in the B final at the Tokyo Olympics.

Battling Blitzboks

And after securing bronze at the Rio Games, the Blitzboks were eliminated in the semi-finals at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and settled for fifth place at the Tokyo Olympics.

Though they won the first four tournaments in the 2021/22 World Rugby Sevens Series, they have struggled in their last four events and are just two points ahead of Australia heading into the final leg in Los Angeles next month, and they are seemingly no longer the team they once were.

Not that there aren’t younger athletes coming through – we do have medal hopes ahead of the Paris Games – but it is surprising that such a fantastic generation of athletes vanished so soon.

The Class of 2016 were awesome. They will be remembered as much as they are missed.