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Mzansi’s Olympic hopefuls Akani Simbine and Ruswahl Samaai are ready to live their Olympic dream.
The pair, who were based in Italy, have put in hard work and now their wait is over. They can almost smell the Olympic track as their events edge closer.
The track and field events start on Friday at the Olympic Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, and Samaai will kick things off by taking part in the qualifying rounds.
The nerves have kicked in for Samaai, the University of Johannesburg student-cum-long jumper, who hails from the Western Cape.
Simbine, Mzansi’s fastest man, will take part in the 100m preliminary rounds on Saturday. He is oozing confidence and hopes to put in a great performance.
In June, he won a bronze medal at the African Championships in Durban. But his performance in July at the Gyulai István Memorial in Budapest, Hungary, where he ran a personal best 9.89 seconds – a South African record gives him hope.
Simbine said: “I want to step up at the track. I’m focused on doing the best that I can do at the Olympics. I’m ready and just can’t wait now. Italy was good, but I just want to compete in Rio.”
Simbine recovered from a long-term injury, and his third-place at the African Championships in Durban was a step in the right direction. He says that the injury he sustained a couple of months ago was a blessing in disguise.
“The injury was a blow to my confidence, but it made me work on the little things, and it was something that had to happen. It was a blessing in disguise because I would have run more races if it was not for the injury.”
Samaai is not only one of the athletes going to the Olympics, but one of the favourites to win a medal.
“I’m ready for the Olympics and we will see what happens,” he said.
The modest athlete leapt to an impressive distance of 8.40m to win a gold medal at the African Senior Championships in June.
The spotlight might be on South Africa’s golden boy and girl, Wayde van Niekerk and Caster Semenya, but Samaai is the unsung hero of Team SA.
He is the Commonwealth Games bronze medallist and his recent African title performance has put him up there with some of the best in the world.
He said he was capable of handling the pressure: “For me, the pressure is nothing. I love it and I love to compete as well. Pressure is always a good thing.”
Samaai, who used his stay in Italy to focus on his jumps and technique, is an aggressive athlete when it comes to chasing his dream. And that type of attitude could propel him to a podium finish.
Veteran long jumper Khotso Mokoena, who is also competing in the triple jump event, is in Rio and can give Samaai advice should he need it. Mokoena won a silver medal in the long jump at the Beijing Games in China in 2008.
“Khotso opened so many doors and I’m doing this because of him. I believe that I can get a medal. I plan to achieve that this year. Khotso is such an inspiration,” said Samaai.
