Johannesburg - A gritty quartet of triathletes spearheaded by Richard Murray will be looking to clinch South Africa’s first silverware at the Olympic Games in the three-phase event that includes swimming, biking and running.
The country’s two top female triathletes, Mari Rabie and Gillian Sanders, will join Murray for their second Games in Rio de Janeiro next month while Henri Schoeman will make his debut.
The Rio Games are considered to be South Africa’s best chance of winning a medal in the triathlon which consists of a 1.5km swim, a 40km bike ride and a 10km run.
Tipped to be a medal prospect four years ago, Murray raced to the best Olympic Games triathlon finish by a South African when he placed 17th in London 2012.
Sanders also finished in a creditable 19th place which was the second best effort at the quadrennial showpiece by a South African.
Missing out in 2012, Rabie will make her return to the Games eight years after she made her debut in Beijing 2008.South African triathlon has been among the country’s top performing sporting codes over the last four years.
Murray has entrenched himself among the top male triathletes in the world over the last four years. He won bronze at the Commonwealth Games in 2014 before finishing the 2015 season fourth on the overall world rankings after winning only his second World Triathlon Series title.
After a promising start to the 2016 season, Murray suffered a debilitating setback when he broke his collarbone in a crash in Australia in April.He has since made a miraculous comeback by winning his maiden ITU World Duathlon title before signalling his return at the World Triathlon event in Hamburg.
Murray was well on his way to challenging for pole position before he was disqualified for unsportsmanlike behaviour.Going into the final stretch Murray and Spain’s Mario Mola went toe-to-toe before the South African was served a 10-second penalty for putting his wetsuit into the wrong box at the transition point after the swim.
He then crossed the line in second place but was disqualified after he showed his anger and frustration when the official did not respond when Murray enquired about the penalty.
Four years ago Murray won his maiden World Triathlon Series title in Hamburg ahead of the London Games with his recent performance at the same event a positive sign of things to come.
Triathlon South Africa national coach Lindsey Parry believes Murray should be a strong contender at the Rio Games despite the earlier setbacks.
“Richard is in a better place even with the collar-bone break, he is swimming better, he is a much more mature athlete and he is miles more consistent,” Parry said.“
Even though he hasn’t won as many times as he would have wanted to, he still finished on the podium and in the top five pretty much every time he’s raced since then.”
Joining Murray in the men’s race in Rio, Schoeman has also made serious advances in the world triathlon ranks.“Henri is ranked in the top-10 in the world, he is currently sitting in seventh, and while he didn’t go well in Hamburg he raced a lot better the next day,” Parry said.
“He has also raced better through the season, and I think Hamburg was more of an anomaly than something to be worried about.”“We can definitely expect better than in London, I’ll be quite disappointed if both Henri and Richard aren’t in the top-10, and I’ll be very surprised if Richard is not in the top five.”
Buoyed by her 19th place in London 2012, Sanders will be looking to move up the field, and should everything go according to plan she could challenge for a top-10 place in Rio.
Rabie earned a confidence-boosting top-10 finish in Hamburg where she finished in eighth place and this should hold her in good stead going into the Games.She made her comeback to the sport in 2014 but after a brief return she had to sit out eight months due to a heart condition called myocarditis.
“If Gillian has a decent swim, she could put herself in the mix in the run for the top five or six, and if it is a breakaway the cards will fall in Mari’s favour,” Parry predicted.
The Star