Cool Luke
Davids dreams of mimicking Usain Bolt on the track
dreams of mimicking Usain Bolt
● Luke Davids, SA’s newest sprint star, did a pretty cool imitation of Usain Bolt’s animated pre-race routine before winning the 100m crown at the Youth Olympic Games in Argentina this week.
He — like every other speedster on the planet — dreams of mimicking Bolt on the track. Odean Skeen or Sydney Siame don’t quite hack it as role models.
Jamaica’s Skeen and Siame of Zambia won the same event at the previous two editions of the age-group Olympics, at Singapore 2010 and Nanjing 2014 respectively.
But they have yet to transfer their success to senior level.
Skeen, now 24, had a 9.98sec season’s best last year for a world ranking of 16th, while Siame, with a 10.06 season’s best in 2018, is 37th.
They may make it yet, but time is running out; five of the world’s 10 fastest men this year are 24 or younger. One is 21.
Davids was one of SA’s three champions in Buenos Aires, alongside female triathlete Amber Schlebusch and swimmer Michael Houlie.
Rounding off the nation’s medal tally were Hannah Garton, who took a bronze in the team show-jumping event, and Dune Coetzee, who became SA’s first female swimmer to reach the podium at this showpiece with silver in the 200m butterfly.
Of SA’s 10 medallists from the previous two Games, only one has carried that winning form into the main Olympics — Chad Le Clos at London 2012 and again Rio 2016.
Fellow swimmer Dylan Bosch, another medallist at Singapore 2010, made it to Rio.
Statistically, that means the class of 2018 have a 20% chance of getting to Tokyo 2020 or Paris 2024, and have a 10% chance of winning medals there.
It’s little wonder then that coaches are taking a cautious approach to SA’s successes in South America.
“It’s a step in the right direction,” said national swimming coach Graham Hill.
Houlie won his gold in the 50m breaststroke, a non-Olympic event. But it was the 1min 00.23sec he clocked in the 100m breaststroke that impressed Hill.
“That’s very encouraging for the future.” Houlie is exactly 0.3sec off the qualifying time for Tokyo 2020, and hopefully within two seconds of a medal.
But Coetzee’s 2:11.71 in the girls’ 200m butterfly is more than two seconds away from getting to the Japanese showpiece.
The Pretoria schoolgirl is just 16 and Paris
Five of the world’s 10 fastest men this year are 24 or younger. One is 21
is a more realistic Olympic goal, when she will be 22, a good age to make her mark.
Breaststroke queen Penny Heyns was 21 and backstroker Marianne Kriel nearly 25 when they won their Olympic medals at Atlanta 1996. Heyns returned to Sydney four years later to pick up a third gong.
The biggest challenge for local administrators could be keeping Coetzee in the pool after she leaves school — the drop-off rate post-matric is alarming.
Schlebusch too faces the prospect of a long road to senior success.
Lindsey Parry, former national triathlon coach, says balancing her development over the next few years will be critical. “You don’t want to rush her, and she won’t want to be held back too much either.”
Few people have doubted the talent of SA sports people, but there have been questions about the ability of administrators.
They must step up to the plate too.