Publications
Partners
Team SA will send one of its most decorated and competitive teams to next month’s Olympic Games, with 10 medals as its Rio target. Timothy Molobi assesses the depth of talent the 137 members hold
Qualifying for this year’s Olympics was no easy feat, given the tough standards that excluded Africa as the route to the Rio de Janeiro spectacle.
Only football was allowed to gain entry via continental championships. The SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) has put the bar at 10 medals. It may look like an ambitious target, but it is achievable.
Three to four medals are expected to come from athletics based on the number of SA’s top track and field stars in the team. Along with them are defending Olympic champions, swimmers Chad le Clos and Cameron van der Burgh.
A closer scrutiny of Team SA:
Caster Semenya: 800m
The London 2012 Olympics runner-up headlines a list of the 39 track and field athletes who are medal certainties.
The 25-year-old is favourite to win the 800m gold in Rio after clocking a new personal best of 1:55.33 for her win at Monaco Diamond League on Friday night. Her previous PB was 1:55.45 in 2009.
Last month, Semenya won gold at the African Championship in Durban. She has also won four Diamond League meetings in as many races.
With the expected absence of her serious competitors from Russia, Semenya is odds-on favourite for gold, a feat that would be a personal triumph – she has spent much of the last three years off the track with a succession of injuries.
Wayde van Niekerk: 400m
South Africa is expecting great things from this star. The reigning 400m world champion is another who is sure to bring a medal home.
His exploits at last year’s IAAF World Championships in Beijing and further improvements have raised the hopes of the nation.
The speedster remains the only athlete to have run the 100m in under 10 seconds (9.98), a sub-29 in the 200m (19.94) and a sub-44 in the 400m (43.48).
He has raced a lot this year and is unbeaten in the one-lap 200m and 300m so far.
Sunette Viljoen: javelin
Viljoen, who finished fourth in London four years ago, is also a medal contender in javelin.
She won a bronze at last year’s World Championships and looks set for another shot at a medal in Rio.
Anaso Jobodwana: 200m
He might be racing against time to be fit for the Games, but a fully-fit Jobodwana is capable of a podium finish. He has been out of action for some time with an osteitis pubis – a pelvic problem resulting in abdominal pain – and has not raced since September.
He ran in the 2012 Olympic 200m final and won bronze at last year’s World Championships.
Akani Simbine: 100m
Earlier this year, the Tuks Athletics sprinter achieved a recordbreaking performance in the 100m when he set a new South African record of 9.96s.
Luvo Manyonga: long jump
After a long battle with the drug methamphetamine – or tik as it is commonly known here – the long jumper is oozing confidence ahead of his maiden Olympic Games. He is a former junior world champion.
Rushwahl Samaai: long jump
The 24-year-old claimed medals in his first appearances at the Commonwealth Games and African Athletics Championships in 2014, and was the number-one-ranked long jumper in the world at one stage last year.
Khotso Mokoena: triple jump
The 2008 silver medallist wants to add to the single medal he has when he competes in his new speciality – triple jump. He feels he is getting close to his best and believes he will be ready.
Pool splash
Top contenders in the pool will be the usual suspects: Olympic champion and butterfly specialist Le Clos, who announced earlier this week that both his parents were battling cancer; and Van der Burgh, who is a sure bet in the breaststroke event.
Springbok Sevens
Kyle Brown will lead the team that will compete, as rugby returns to the Olympics 92 years since the 15-man format was last played at the 1924 Games.
Current World Rugby Sevens Player of the Year, Werner Kok, was included in the team after he missed out in all of the 2015/16 HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series following a knee injury.
Rowing
Both women’s and men’s teams have a chance at a medal. The men’s lightweight coxless four stunned the world when they clinched gold in London four years ago.
Bridgitte Hartley’s kayak is also known for podium finishes.
