‘Tannie Ans’ to unveil new gems
Wayde’s coach has top junior prospects on tap
With Wayde van Niekerk out nursing a long-term injury, his coach Anna “Tannie Ans” Botha, has promised to unleash new gems in the absence of her most prized asset.
The veteran coach – who won the IAAF Coaching Achievement award last Friday – said she had invested in some of SA’s top junior athletes who were coming in as first-year students at the University of Free State in the new year.
“I hope we’ll soon have new gems to come out of our development group,” Botha, who turns 76 on December 18, told Sowetan yesterday.
“I have been very busy with the young ones, top SA juniors such as Bongani Matsoso. He’s a promising 400m runner, and Nicola de Bruyn, who is doing the 200m. They are all in my development group.”
Van Niekerk is undergoing rehabilitation on his knee following surgery four weeks ago. Tannie also revealed that she has attracted some top international athletes who she has enlisted at the Bloemfontein institution.
“I’ll be working with some international sprinters such as Mosito Lehata from Lesotho and the American guy, Curtis Mitchell, who joined me four weeks ago,” she said.
Lehata, 28, represented the Mountain Kingdom at this year’s World Championships and the 2016 Rio Olympics, while Mitchell, also 28, was a 200m bronze medallist at the 2013 global championships.
Botha also reflected on Van Niekerk’s losing out on the IAAF top award to Qatari high jumper Mutaz Barshim , saying she was taking the defeat on the chin.
“Last year he contended with Usain Bolt but I never thought Barshim was the real danger [among this year’s nominees]. I’m not able to understand because statistics show a different story. I thought Wayde’s top times and winning his second 400m world championships gold and silver [in the 200m] was in his favour.
“I am not complaining, though, because that’s what the judging panel and the people decided.”
Besides Van Niekerk, Botha’s other notable products are Namibia’s iconic sprinter, Frankie Fredericks, and SA’s Thuso Mpuang, who won bronze and silver medals at the World Student Games in 2009 and 2011 respectively.