OPINION: SA athletes have taken big steps forward at the Paris Olympics

Not every Olympic athlete has the ability to win a medal.

For many individuals, just qualifying for the Games is a significant achievement. For others, reaching a final is the ultimate goal.

And based on all measurements, the national track and field team have significantly improved on their all-round performance at the Tokyo Games in 2021.

In Tokyo, the poor results stretched far beyond the fact that they didn’t earn a medal. Akani Simbine, who was fourth in the 100m sprint, and Kyle Blignaut, who finished sixth in the shot put, were the only SA athletes to reach finals in what was the worst all-round effort by the national athletics squad at the Olympics since readmission in 1992.

Significant improvement

Over the last week in Paris, however, five athletes turned out in individual track and field finals, including Simbine (100m), Prudence Sekgodiso (800m), Adrian Wildschutt (10,000m), Jo-Ane van Dyk (javelin throw) and Brian Raats (high jump).

And multiple athletes were left heartbroken after narrowly missing out on the medal contests in their events, including Benji Richardson in the 100m sprint, Blignaut in the shot put and Zeney Geldenhuys in the 400m hurdles.

Even more promising have been the medal-winning achievements and the impressive results achieved in terms of times and distances.

Medals were bagged by Van Dyk in the women’s javelin throw and the men’s 4x100m sprint relay squad.

National records were also set by Simbine, who clocked 9.82 to finish fourth in the 100m final; Wildschutt, who was 10th in the 10 000m final in 26:50.64; and both the SA men’s 4x100m (37.57) and 4x400m (2:58.12) relay teams.

In other events, Geldenhuys (400m hurdles), Rogail Joseph (400m hurdles), Miranda Coetzee (400m) and Van Dyk (javelin) all set personal bests in preliminary rounds.

Bright future

Most promising is that many of the athletes listed above haven’t yet reached their peaks, and they could be even more competitive at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

Having struggled to punch above their weight in recent years, the national athletics squad have taken big steps forward in Paris. And that’s good to see.