Dejected Magakwe returns

SPRINTER CAN COMPETE

TOMORROW will mark the expiry of Simon Magakwe’s two-year ban from athletics.

The one-time SA golden boy told Sowetan this week that he was yet to make up his mind whether he’s still interested in the sport or not.

“I have mixed feelings ... I never followed athletics that much except for watching the Olympics [in Rio last year]. I am more interested in soccer these days,” Magakwe said.

“I watch Platinum Stars and sometimes even have an odd kick-about with the players just to clear my mind.”

Stars is based at the Bafokeng Sports Complex, the same facility that also houses track and field athletes such as Magakwe.

The six-time SA 100m champion said he had felt the effects of being a forgotten somebody and that his situation was exacerbated by the passing of his mother a few months into his suspension.

Apart from the company of his coach Eugene Thipe and his teammates at the Royal Bafokeng Athletics Club, Magakwe said he’s otherwise been living a lonely life in Phokeng – where he is renting a room.

The North West platinum town has been his home since 2009 when he left his birthplace of Itsoseng, near Mahikeng, to pursue running.

“The passing of my mother hit me very hard because she was the reason I was so committed to running. The money that I made from athletics was taking care of her,” said Magakwe, who turns 31 in May.

Magakwe’s fate was sealed in December 2014 when the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) anti-doping tribunal charged him with “refusal to submit to doping control”.

This after he missed a random out-of-competition drugs test, which IAAF considers a doping violation and carries a minimum two-year sentence.

Magakwe still maintains his innocence, saying he couldn’t test on the spot because he was attending to an emergency call from his sick mother at the time.

His coach, meanwhile, is hoping that the sprinter will make up his mind.

“I’m not promising anyone anything but we want to give him the reason to come back. Athletics is the only thing for Simon,” said Thipe.