SA's unsung heroes in track and field

At his best. . . Cornel Fredericks has done enough to be a contender for 2014 Sportsman of the Year in South Africa.

There was plenty of good for South African athletics in the international arena this year, even though the overriding picture having been that of a country in recess in this great sport.

The good was the emergence of one-lap hurdler Cornel Fredericks being the man to beat in the world in this discipline, having taken the accolades in all major events this year. Apart from the Commonwealth Games gold, Fredericks also grabbed back-to-back titles in the Moroccan city of Marrakech - in the Africa championships in August and in the IAAF Continental Cup last weekend.

Even though he was the only South African athlete to secure a gold medal in an individual event at the two-day competition in north Africa, several other countrymen and woman raised the flag high.
Sunette Viljoen, simply the first lady of SA track and field, threw another silver-winning  in the javelin, just as she did in the Commonwealth Games crown and the African title he won in the Moroccan city last month.

Long-jumper Zarck Visser emerged as a surprise package, given modest distances and places he had been receiving in the past four years. But his first gold medal at world level last week in the Continenental Cup underscored the age-old matra that practice makes perfect. Before 2014, Visser's best effort internationally was the second place at 2012 African championships in Porto Novo, Benin. He achieved that with a modest jump of just 7.98m, but more hard work produced a world class 8.32m, Visser's personal best so far, at the elite Weltklasse meet in Zurich a year later (29 August 2013).

Then came the glorious 2014, which started with Visser winning his third successive SA title during the national championships at Pilditch, Pretoria. On that day, April 11, his performance was roudly lauded by the media as the best of the day, even though his 8.31m jump was still a little shy of the national mark of 8.50m.

He followed that up with a silver at the Commonwealth Games and gold at the Continetal Cup last week.
At 25 Visser is in his prime as a long-jumper, and so far has shown the attitude and form required to overhaul Khotso Mokoena's record. Even more interesting, the two are now training partners. More remarkable is the unforeseen comeback of Mokoena, albeit in triple jump, his second favourite discipline.

Apart from the gold in Glasgow, and silver in Marrakech, Mokoena grabbed also won the long jump contest in the Diamond League series. All this marked a glorious return from injuries-induced layoff for one of SA's favourite sons in sport. The lanky lad from Heidelberg crowned  a magnificent season last Sunday by smashing his own national triple jump record, a 10cm improvement to 17.35m.
"I'm very pleased with the record. I'm also pleased with a second place and I feel truly blessed," a modest Mokoena said in Marrakech.

This trio - Fredericks, Visser and Mokoena - are already way ahead of their peers as early candidates for the sportsman of the year award, despite very little coverage by the local media of the achievements above.
Last but not least, sprinter Wayde van Niekerk also stepped on the podium in Marrakech, after anchoring the African quartet to gold in the men's 4x400m relay final.

At 22, Van Niekerk, a 200m and 400m specialist, represents the future even though his international career has already begun. This year already he's the SA 400m champion, he set the new national record (44.38 sec) over the same distance, and won silver in both the Commonwealth Games and African championships. Unfortunately, his emergence and that of a few other young athletes in South Africa are a small drop in the ocean for a country which used to be a force to be reckoned with in track and field.

The biggest loss, as witnessed in the Commonwealth Games, is the dearth of talent in South Africa in the middle distances spectrum - 800m, 1500m, 3000m steeplechase, 5000m and 10000m. What makes this picture look bleaker is the absence of any visible plan by the  authorities - from government to the Olympic movement Sascoc - to revive SA's culture of middle distance running.

One can only imagine if such programme was in place, what would have happened for SA in Glasgow and Marrakech. . .

Sadly, the places which used to provide the bulk of running talent in these disciplines are now humstrung by substance abuse, and forbidding social ills which make it hard for girls to even play any sport they wish to play.