Rio de Janeiro - After Tyrone Pillay had won bronze in the shot put at the Olympic Stadium on Sunday, he was asked if he was “floating” at the wonder of it all. He looked down at his legs.
“Well, I’ve only got one leg on the ground,” he laughed.
One leg, and a prosthetic. Which is one leg more than Ntando Mahlangu, his teammate, who was still bouncing around the Paralympic Village on Sunday afternoon after his silver medal in the 200m on Sunday night. It has been an extraordinary two days for South Africa on the track and the field. Gold, two silvers and two bronzes; five medals in 24 hours.
Mahlangu, at the age of 14, is now assured of superstar status in South Africa after he bounded down the final straight in pursuit of Richard Whitehead, the winner and defending champion from Britain, in 23.77secs, a new African record. In a few weeks he will go back to Laerskool Constantiapark to catch up on the grade seven work he has missed, but he was already dreaming about Tokyo. Whitehead, now 40, will retire next year. He may have seen the future coming at some pace behind him.
“Bring on Tokyo,” said Mahlangu. “I’m ready for it. I just want to run. This is just great. So many people have done so many great things for me to help me get here. I wanted to mix it up with the big boys and I have.”
Pillay had told South African team officials that he was not nervous ahead of his final yesterday morning at 11am local time. The sun baked down on the Olympic Stadium. Pillay was seventh after the first round, but his third throw of 13.66m put him into third place.
“After the first round I said I would play it safe. I threw a 12.56m,” said Pillay. “Everyone was stressing in the ground. I said, ‘Don’t stress. I got this.’ I just wanted one safe one to get into the final and I am going to bust from there.
“And I frikking let it rip on the last one. I did a 13.66, got into the final. I was in third place. I said to myself. I know I can go bigger. I know I can go further. This is MY house. This is what I dreamt about doing. For 33 years this is all I dreamt about. I said to myself that I am not going to let this up now. And on the last one I threw a 13.91, a new South African record. New African record. I mean, Jeez, you can’t get any better than that. I just love it.
“The thing is, I knew what I needed to do. I stuck to my gameplan. I kept listening to what my coach told me in my head over and over again. Kept playing it over and over. I told myself, don’t stress. I knew these guys were stressed when they saw me throwing. They didn’t realise I could throw this far. I was the dark horse in this event and when I came out with guns blazing these guys didn’t know what to do after that.”
His voice faltered as he remembered his late father, who died of cancer, and dedicated the win to him and his mother. He was born “Les Autres” (the others), a French term for a birth defect. His left leg was not properly developed and he had to use a prosthetic. He played cricket for 14 years then discovered disabled sport. He just missed out on the team for London.
“This goes out to my dad who passed on 14 years ago. My mum has got cancer at the moment. And I love them to death and this is for them. And for everybody else back home who believed in me and supported me when no one else did. This victory is for South Africa.”
His celebrations for the medal were a thing to behold, his emotions evident to see. He had considered going on a lap of honour, but then though better of it.
“I was going to, but then I realised I wouldn’t make it halfway through because I am a thrower.”
Independent Media