Johannesburg - Baby Louis will be under the care of his aunt in Naboomspruit while his athlete parents LJ and Irvette van Zyl participate in their respective events a day apart at the Rio Olympic Games next month.
National 400m hurdles record-holder LJ will be making his third appearance at the global showpiece while Irvette will be lining up for her second Olympic Marathon.
Four years ago they went to the London 2012 Games as an engaged couple but it was not quite the experience they had hoped for as Irvette did not finish the marathon while LJ did not advance past his heats.
Much has changed since then with the couple tying the knot shortly after the Games while Louis was born in September 2015.
“Our memories together in London wasn’t great, she didn’t finish the marathon and I fell out in the first round,” LJ said.
“Ten years from now I don’t want to look at photos from the Olympics and those memories of 2012, that experience wasn’t that pleasant in terms of performance.
“I’d like to change that, I know Irv is in the best shape of her life, and I am also experiencing a good year.”
Irvette’s career has taken off establishing herself as the top female road runner in the country while LJ’s has gone through a resurgence in 2016.
It has been a mad rush for both athletes as they adjusted to parenthood and pursuing their professional athletics careers.
Only a month after giving birth to Louis, Irvette was back on the road finishing the Spar Ladies 10km race in Johannesburg in 12th place with a time of 38:20 minutes.
Maternity seem to agree with her both personally and professionally posting the fastest time of all the qualifiers at the London Marathon in April with a time of 2:32:20 for a 15th place finish.
“I was happy to have been to London 2012 where I learned a lot of lessons from it, and I should do it differently this time around,” Irvette said.
“I am more experienced and really look forward to Rio, I am like a child counting the days till Christmas.
“Training is coming along nicely, and now I just want to line up at the start, injury free, healthy, and ready to run which would be half of the race won.”
No stranger to international competition, LJ has been in the spotlight since he won the World Junior title 14 years ago in Kingston, Jamaica.
At his maiden Olympic Games in Beijing 2008, LJ finished in a creditable fifth place with a time of 48.42 seconds.
His form from 2011 where he clocked a new national record of 47.66s, and the bronze medal from the World Championships suggested he would fulfil his potential the next year in London.
It was not too be as he crashed out in the heats with his form going into a downward spiral in the wake of the Games.
LJ also seem to have found his mojo over the last two years recently posting his fastest time in five years with a time of 48.67s at the World Challenge meeting in Ostrava, Czech Republic in May.
“I’ve realised that I don’t have years left to compete, and I have to run as if every race is my last one,” LJ said.
“I motivate myself by telling myself that I’ve actually had a really nice innings, for 15 consecutive years I’ve been able to run below 50 seconds.”
The couple admit they feed off each other’s successes but will not allow possible individual failure derail each other at the Games.
“I do think we feed off each other’s performances but it is also dangerous because if one of is injured or has an off day it shouldn’t influence the other negatively,” LJ said.
“We try to separate it but is very difficult.”
LJ will line up in the 400m hurdles heats the day after Irvette would have competed in the marathon on August 14
“He handed my personal drinks at the London Olympics but I don’t he should this time around because I think he was bad luck,” Irvette said jokingly.
“We will not stay together in Rio, we will experience it together but the focus still needs to be there.
“There is a lot of stress at the Games and you don’t want to be in each other’s stress zones. I talk a lot, and he goes quiet.
"So I irritate him when I am with him and he irritates me because he doesn’t listen to me. We just have different ways of handling stress.”
Independent Media