Johannesburg - Wayde van Niekerk will be the protagonist in the male cast in the track and field on the Olympic Games stage in Rio de Janeiro next month.
The 400m world champion will be one of the spearheads for the country’s Olympic medal ambitions after he was named in the 39-strong athletics team.It is possibly the country’s strongest athletics team yet at the Games with 26 male athletes selected to do battle in Rio, which is larger than the entire athletics team from London 2012.
Van Niekerk is the highest-ranked athlete in the half-lap sprinter during the Olympic qualifying window period thanks to his world-title winning effort of 43.48 seconds from Beijing in August last year.
The 24-year-old’s season’s best of 44.11s from the SA Open in Bloemfontein in May is the third-fastest so far this year.It is tempting to get carried away with the statistics while Van Niekerk’s chances of winning a medal seem like a mere formality.
But the Olympics have a way of bringing high hopes down to earth, and with the 400m at its most competitive in years it will be anything but a walk in the park.
Defending champion Kirani James of Grenada and former world champion LaShawn Merritt of America were ahead of the South African on the rankings before Friday night’s Diamond League meeting in Monaco.
Their presence at the top of the rankings is a stark reminder of the competition Van Niekerk will be facing in Rio.The one-lap sprint is shaping up to be one of the highlights of Olympic track and field events after all three athletes dipped below 44 seconds in the final at the IAAF World Championships in Beijing last year.
CONGRATS on a special run in Monaco last night @WaydeDreamer #TeamSARise pic.twitter.com/6oWDZA349y
— Aden Thomas (@adenthomas) July 16, 2016
Merritt will have extra motivation as he takes aim at the 200m-400m double, hoping to match world record-holder and compatriot Michael Johnson’s feat at the 1996 Atlanta Games.Doubts over world 200m bronze medallist Anaso Jobodwana’s fitness were laid to rest when his name appeared on the SA team list on Thursday.
The London 2012 finalist had seemingly recovered from osteitis pubis, inflammation of the pubic bone of the pelvis, and was making serious strides back to full fitness in his base in the US.
A fully fit and in-form Jobodwana has shown he has the big-match temperament to perform at this level, and will be pining for a proper run after being forced to spend months away from the track.
South Africa’s men’s long jumpers could also be among medal contenders with Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Ruswahl Samaai leading the charge.
Samaai’s personal best-equalling jump of 8.38m from Rabat in May is ranked fifth at the moment, while Luvo Manyonga’s 8.30m in Pretoria in March is the ninth best this year.
The omission of Zarck Visser, who boasted a best jump of 8.41m during the window period, could be seen as slightly controversial.
Visser recorded that jump in July last year, and had been on the comeback trail after being out with injury for months. He has been unable to jump further than eight metres this season which opened the door for Stefan Brits to claim a spot with his 8.22m.
Brits’s jump in May in the US was only the second time he had jumped over eight metres in his career but this was good enough for a place in the team.National 400m hurdles record-holder LJ van Zyl will be looking to make up for the disappointment of 2012 when he failed to make it past the heats.
Van Zyl will be heading into the Games as one of the top one-lap hurdlers in the world with his time of 48.67s set in Ostrava in May ranked the fifth-fastest so far this year.He will be joined by fellow Tuks athletes Le Roux Hamman and Lindsay Hanekom – both making their breakthrough this year.
South African 100m record-holder Akani Simbine and training partner Henricho Bruintjies will be headlining the short sprints as they take aim at a place in the final at the Games.
Jobodwana will be flanked by two teenagers in the half-lap sprint with 18-year-olds, Clarence Munyai and Gift Leotlela, earning selection.Olympic long jump silver medallist Khotso Mokoena will come full circle, earning selection in the triple jump in which he participated at his maiden Olympics in Athens 2004.
The country’s marathoners, Lusapho April, Sibusiso Nzima and Lungile Gongqa, will be hoping to imitate Josia Thugwane, who won gold at the Atlanta Games in 1996.
SA’s men’s athletics team:
100m: Akani Simbine, Henricho Bruintjies200m: Anaso Jobodwana, Clarence Munyai, Gift Leotlela
400m: Wayde van Niekerk
800m: Jacob Rozani, Rynardt van Rensburg5 000m: Elroy Gelant
10 000m: Stephen MokokaMarathon: Lusapho April, Sibusiso Nzima, Lungile Gongqa
110m hurdles: Antonio Alkana
400m hurdles: LJ van Zyl, Lindsay Hanekom, Le Roux Hamman
Long jump: Ruswahl Samaai, Luvo Manyonga, Stefan Brits
Triple jump: Khotso Mokoena
Javelin throw: Rocco van Rooyen
Decathlon: Willem Coertzen
20km walk: Lebogang Shange, Wayne Snyman
50km walk: Marc Mundel
Saturday Star