South African javelin queen Sunette Viljoen is done fighting battles with outside forces but instead it is the raging fight within her that receives all her attention.
Viljoen has been praised for the way she spoke out against the SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) for their lack of support and recognition.
This has earned her the Olympic body’s scorn and she was publicly lambasted after she penned an open letter in Afrikaans Sunday newspaper Rapport last year about the poor support Operation Excellence (Opex) athletes received.
Viljoen called Opex ‘just a nice name for a big ruckus over nothing’ and said athletes just ‘grin and bear it’ out of fear they would lose the meagre stipend they received.
The world bronze medalist wrote the letter much to the chagrin of Sascoc, and it was clear the relationship has reached a dead end.
Viljoen last received financial support from Sascoc in February despite her status as one of the world’s top female javelin throwers, and perpetual Olympic medal prospect.
Instead of weighing her down, the lack of support has strengthened her resolve, and Viljoen is ‘excited about what lies ahead’.
“As they say, 'choose your battles', and my fight is not with Sascoc anymore but with myself,” Viljoen told The Star.
“I have broken ties with them because they have been a stumbling block more than anything else.
“I am receiving no financial support from them at the moment, and I am tired of begging and pleading.”
Viljoen has been one of the best athletes South Africa has ever produced, and has consistently been among the world’s top female javelin throwers for more than a decade.
Last year she won her second world bronze medal in Beijing with a distance of 65.79m, adding to her third place from Daegu in 2011.
Four years ago Viljoen was one of South Africa great Olympic medal hopefuls going into the London Games with a mammoth world-leading distance of 69.35m which ranks her the sixth best female javelin thrower of all time.
At the Games she came painstakingly close to a medal but fell 0.38 cm short of the bronze and instead of glory she was reduced to tears.
She made a slow start to this season compared to other years, opening with a heave of 52.91m in Pretoria in March before winning her 11th national title with a throw of 59.39m.
Concern started to creep in that Viljoen might be losing her touch, but she soon disproved the naysayers when she launched a world-leading heave of 65.14m at the Doha Diamond League meeting at the beginning of May.
“I view the Rio build-up as a process, and I don’t focus on the result at competitions but rather to build up to the best performance at the right time which is the Olympic Games,” she says.
“It is not good to reach top form that early in the season; you really want to produce the best performances when it matters most.
“So I don’t really consider it as a 'slow' start, it actually excites me.”
Vilijoen seems to have found a new lease on her career, and while she has always had a insatiable drive to succeed, one senses she has added a killer instinct to her armoury.
“I am excited about what lies ahead, I feel physically and mentally better than ever before,” she said.
“My motto for 2016 is 'fearless' and I apply it to every competition.
“I want to be unstoppable.”
Viljoen will be one of eight South African athletes who will be competing at the Diamond League meeting in Rome tomorrow.
The contingent also includes Wayde van Niekerk (400m), Akani Simbine (100m), Caster Semenya (800m), Luvo Manyonga and Ruswahl Samaai (long jump), Victor Hogan (discus throw), and Wenda Nel (400m hurdles). - The Star