Johannesburg - There is just something about relays that mesmerise. You don’t always have to have the fastest athletes, but if you manage to get your changeovers right, you can come away with silverware.
South Africa have a fantastic history of relay teams doing well on the international stage considering the lack of attention they receive on home soil.
The country last featured prominently in the relay events when the 4x400m team of LJ van Zyl, Shane Victor, Ofentse Mogawane, Willem de Beer and Oscar Pistorius won silver medal at the 2011 World Championships.
Add to that the retroactive 2001 World Championships 4x100m gold medal and 4x400m from the 1999 World Championships in Seville, and South Africa has done a fantastic job in an event that is usually considered an afterthought.
While a few of the country’s athletics hacks have been going on about South Africa’s potential to field world-beating relay teams over the last two years or so ad nauseum, the rest of the world has also taken notice.
The IAAF’s authoritative Spikes Magazine this week compiled a wish-list for 2017 and a 4x100m relay team from our shores features prominently in the article.
“South African 400m (world) record holder Wayde van Niekerk should spearhead the team after he posted the sixth fastest time of all-time of 43.48sec,” the article reads.
“South African speedsters are not limited to Van Niekerk. In July 2016 Akani Simbine clocked a NR 9.89 in Budapest before finishing fifth at the Olympic Games.
“Anaso Jobodwana was injured for much of last year, but with a 200m lifetime best of 19.87 you wouldn’t want to miss him on a bend leg. Throw in national 100m champion Henricho Bruintjies, who holds a PB of 9.97, and you’ve got yourself a serious team.”
Preach brother, preach!
Although calls for Athletics SA (ASA) to get their act together with regards to the relay have largely fallen on deaf ears, there have been some promising signs over the last few months.
South Africa can look forward to a few meetings in which relays have been added to the programme specifically for national teams to qualify for the IAAF World Relays in the Bahamans in April.
ASA have even shared some of their plans with the athletes at the end of 2016, while the federation has compiled provisional teams for the World Relays.
Problem is, ASA have failed to tell many of these athletes that they are included on the list, or requested to consider adding the relays to their schedules for the season.
Unfortunately, the local meetings may not form part of the athletes’ plans for the season, which could derail plans for the Bahamas.
ASA also released their senior preparation squad for the 2020 Japan Olympic Games based on athletes who were ranked among the top 20 in the world or met the London World Championships qualifying standards in 2016.
Using that criteria, the list seemed fair, except for the omission of women’s marathoners Irvette van Zyl and Jenna Challenor, ranked first and third, based on their times last year. Neither have been given a reason why they have not been included in the preparation squad.
This brings me to my point. While ASA have been making all the right noises when unveiling their plans for the future, they still fail when it comes to communicating with their biggest assets - the athletes.