Saturday Dispatch SA must up their game

THE time is drawing closer when the world’s greatest sprinter, Usain Bolt, bows out from the sport where he held the athletics world in awe.

The Jamaican displays his prowess on the track for the final time at the World Championships in London in August.

It will be a day tinged with nostalgia and sadness, but one thing is certain it is doubtful if there will ever be another of Bolt’s ability, speed and entertainment value. A glance at his record you find a gangly figure of unique stature obliterating the 100m and 200m sprints in record times.

Not many can even contemplate equalling the achievements he has had in an illustrious career spanning 15 years. He ended his Olympics run when he went out in a blaze of glory in Rio de Janeiro last year when he snared gold in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay.

He certainly set the bar extremely high, but there is fleeting hope a few young up-and-coming speedsters will step up to the starting blocks and perhaps emulate the great man – but it will take some doing.

Bolt’s talent was nurtured by an excellent Jamaican athletics programme, which today, under the astute Anthony Davis, the director of sport at Kingston’s University, are already on the lookout for their next superstar.

Jamaica, a tiny Caribbean country with a few million population, is undoubtedly the sprint capital of the world. It spews out more champions than most countries can only dream about. What makes it so unique is that its focus is homed in on the schools where development of youngsters is central to the success of the national project.

There is also amazing buy-in from the communities who flock to meets in their thousands.

This is where South Africa lacks as we just do not attract many people to school events. It is disconcerting and discouraging for coaches, administrators and the pupils to see empty seats.

Athletics SA must start getting more bums on seats at stadiums by setting up an intense marketing drive in both urban and rural areas. It will go some way to lifting the sport to a level it deserves.

It is nothing less than the likes of athletes such as Wayde van Niekerk deserve. We saw what he did when he pulled an amazing 400m Olympic victory last year.

With the world champs ahead Van Niekerk seems not to have lost any of his blistering speed.

Hopefully he can once again set tongues wagging in the 200m chase. This week he cracked a personal best in the 100m in 9.94 seconds.

He may yet get a gold and that is a day the SA athletics world will certainly savour.