Athletics glitters to the sounds of silence

It’s been a real privilege to have a front row seat in media centres around the country over the last two years, witnessing first-hand an ongoing revolution in South African athletics.

But it’s been equally disappointing to look out the windows and face the long rows of empty seats, while world-class performances have been achieved down on the track.

The nation’s elite athletes have done a spectacular job in lifting the standard across the board, with the track and field squad leading the medal haul at last year’s Rio Olympics.

National records have fallen in 10 different track and field championship disciplines over the last two years, while Wayde van Niekerk has entered uncharted territory with a 400m world re- cord, and the likes of long jumper Luvo Manyonga, sprinter Akani Simbine, middle-distance runner Caster Semenya and javelin thrower Sunette Viljoen have established their places among the best athletes in their respective events on the world circuit.

Having watched these athletes turn out in finals in front of tens of thousands of fans at the Olympics, to see the same global stars competing in near-empty stadiums at home has been a major letdown.

Though the crowds have been sizeable at the Gauteng North meetings this season, with multiple athletes shining on the blue Tuks track, the turnout elsewhere has been poor.

At the ASA Speed Series meetings in Durban, Bloemfontein, Potchefstroom and Germiston, there were long lines of abandoned seats.

Wesley Bo on

The same stadiums in Central Gauteng which were packed when we competed at low-key high school meetings in the late Nineties can no longer scrape together a few thousand people, even at top-flight domestic events, despite the rapid improvement in performances.

At the annual Jamaican High School Championships, more than 30 000 spectators turn out to watch the next generation of global sprint stars, and the support of local fans has played a key role in cementing the small Caribbean nation’s position as the powerhouse of global sprinting.

It’s a multi-dimensional approach which has developed through the formation of widespread national interest. Sprinting is not a sport in Jamaica. It’s a culture.

And enough people have bought into the culture that even the United States has been left trailing in the country’s lightningfast wake.

South Africa has no less potential, as has been proved by the six men who have cracked the sub-10 and sub-20 barriers in the 100m and 200m events since 2014, and by the next generation of juniors who are breathing down their necks.

Simbine is going to be one of the most feared 100m sprinters on the world circuit this year, Semenya will be quietly eyeing the world record in the women’s 800m event, and Van Niekerk is so good, even if they dug a sandpit for him to run in next to lane eight, not one man to his left would be confident of winning a 400m race.

These are all good reasons to get excited about the sport, and you don’t have to wait until the Diamond League season gets under way to watch these stars in action on the telly. You can watch them live in Pretoria this weekend, or in Sasolburg next week, or in Potchefstroom next month.

The men’s sprint races at the national champs in Potch will lay the markers for the rest of the world to chase this year, and it would be a damn shame if there was one empty seat in the stadium on April 21 and 22.

If they run out of space in the stands, pop into the pressbox. We’ll find you a chair.