Paralympian sets her eyes on gold
ZANDILE Nhlapo is ready to take the Paralympic Games by stor m next month in the shot-put and javelin events.
The petite 32-year-old athlete has her eyes set on gold after making it to the top 10 and top 5 in javelin and shot-put respectively in the London 2012 games.
“I am looking at getting on that podium for that medal. But I am ecstatic that I will be representing the country,” Nhlapo said.
The eldest of five children, Nhlapo has been living with cerebral palsy all her life, but has never allowed the disability to hold her back from going for gold.
“When I was younger, in primary school, I believed I would hurt myself if I tried to do anything sporty.
“It’s only when I got to high school that I realised I could do it. We had to choose between choir and sport, and because I can’t sing, I went for sport instead,” Nhlapo said.
With the encouragement of her high school teachers and support network, Nhlapo grew into the two sports.
Her coach, Aubrey Mathibela, who she met in her teenage years, was key to her reaching her potential.
Nhlapo, who works as data capturer in the billings department of the Netcare Mulbarton Hospital, said holding down her day job and her dedication to sports was challenging in the beginning. However, she got used to it.
“After working 8-hour days, I am tired. But I still make time for training.
“In South Africa, there isn’t a budget to pay athletes to be professional.
“You need another job. I think the SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc), as the professional body, needs to intervene (to make it easier for athletes),” Nhlapo said.
She also noted that the sporting codes she would be representing the country in are not big in townships such as Duduza, where she comes from.
“A bigger effort needs to be made by the media to publicise these sports because I believe once people see them, they will want to participate,” Nhlapo said.
Mathibela shares her sentiments with regard to training young athletes from the township who have disabilities.
“I am wheelchair bound and I realised after my accident that participating in sport for people with disability is possible and it can be a career,” he said.
“This is why I make the effort to go visit communities around the East Rand, where I am based, to spread this message,” Mathibela said.
He has high hopes for Nhlapo, but has told her not to put herself under too much pressure.
“I told Zandi that when she gets there, she must play her own game, and not worry too much about the other competitors.
“She’s there because she is good at what she does,” Mathibela said.
Nhlapo’s i mmediate supervisor and the manager of the billings department at the hospital, Annette Malan, is equally as excited for her.
“When I interviewed her for this job in 2012, she had just returned from the London games, and from then I realised we had a star here. She’s very secretive, so after every competition I have to drag the information about how it went out of her,” Malan said.
“But, as a hospital, we are very excited for her and we hope everything goes well,” she said.
Nhlapo will be participating in Rio from September 7. The South African team leaves for Rio at the end of this month.