Super Van leads charge
Ockert de Villiers
WAYDE van Niekerk will be the protagonist on the track on the Olympic Games stage in Rio de Janeiro next month.
The 400m world champion will be the spearhead for South Africa’s Olympic medal ambitions after being named in the 39-strong athletics team.
It is possibly the country’s strongest Games team yet, with 26 male athletes selected to do battle in Rio, which is larger than the entire athletics team from London 2012.
Van Niekerk was the highest-ranked athlete in his distance during the Olympic qualifying window period thanks to his world-title winning effort of 43.48 seconds in Beijing in August last year.
The 24-year-old’s season’s best of 44.11 at the SA Open in Bloemfontein in May is the third fastest so far this year.
His chances of winning a medal may seem like a formality but the Olympics have a way of bringing high hopes down to earth, and with the 400m at its most competitive in years it will be challenging.
Defending champion Kirani James, of Grenada, and former world champion LaShawn Merritt, of the US, are now ahead of the South African in the rankings.
Merritt will have extra motivation as he takes aim at the 200m and 400m double, hoping to match world record holder and compatriot Michael Johnson’s feat from Atlanta 1996.
Doubts over world 200m bronze medallist Anaso Jobodwana’s fitness were laid to rest when his name appeared on the team list on Thursday.
The London 2012 finalist has seemingly recovered from osteitis pubis, inflammation of the pubic bone of the pelvis.
A fully fit and in-form Jobodwana will be pining for a proper run after months away from the track.
The long jumpers could also be among the medal contenders, with Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Ruswahl Samaai leading the charge.
His personal best of 8.38m from Rabat in May is ranked fifth at the moment. Luvo Manyonga’s 8.30m in March is the ninth best this year.
The omission of Zarck Visser, who boasts the best jump of 8.41m during the window period, is controversial.
Visser recorded the jump in July last year but has been on the comeback trail after months out with injury.
He has been unable to jump further than 8m this season, which opened the door for Stefan Brits to claim a spot with 8.22m.
National 400m hurdles record holder LJ van Zyl will be looking to make up for the disappointment of 2012, when he failed to make it past the heats.
Van Zyl will be heading into the Games as one of the top one-lap hurdlers in the world, with his time of 48.67 in Ostrava in May ranked the fifth fastest so far this year.
He will be joined by fellow Tuks athletes Le Roux Hamman and Lindsay Hanekom, who both made their breakthroughs this year.
South African 100m record holder Akani Simbine and training partner Henricho Bruintjies will be headlining the short sprints as they take aim at places in the final.