Mokoka on track for Rio Olympics
But questions arise over his decision to do the 10 000m
MULTI-TALENTED Stephen Mokoka knows when he’s run a hard race — he has to throw up.
“If I don’t vomit after the race, I never raced,” said the diminutive athlete who improved his marathon personal best to 2hr 07min 38sec in Shanghai, China, last Sunday.
“Everything must be sore. When I finish I just want to know where the bin is,” the 30who year-old added with a smile.
But he didn’t need a bin last weekend.
“The road is only fun. The track is more pressure,” explained Mokoka, who has qualified for the Rio Olympics in three events — the marathon as well as the 10 000m and 5 000m.
Mokoka competed in the marathon at the 2012 London Games, but limped over the line after blowing with 12km to go.
For the 2016 showpiece he is planning to do the two track events, but it’s a decision that has raised the eyebrows of some local athletics brains, like Elana Meyer, the women’s 10 000m Olympic silver medallist in 1992 also progressed into roadracing, starring in halfmarathon.
“Going for the marathon would have been a better choice,” she said. “The 10 000m is going to be really hard for him to get really close to a medal. The Olympic marathon is an open event.
“He’s definitely a much better marathon runner than a 10 000m and 5 000m runner.”
Veteran coach Ian Harries, who mentored Mbulaeni Mulaudzi to the Olympic 800m silver medal in 2004, agrees.
“Stephen is truly one of South Africa’s great distance runners.
“[But] the 5 000m won’t get him a trip to Mars. The 10 000m he’s a little distant from breaking into 26 minutes, but linked to that fabulous half-marathon and the marathon, I think his future lies in the marathon.” The statistics back them up. Of the six 10 000m races at the two Olympics and four world championships since 2008, Mokoka’s 27min 40.73sec best wouldn’t have been good enough for a medal.
The closest he would have come was at the 2012 London Games, when he would have ended 12th behind Mo Farah, the victor in 27:30.42.
Mokoka admitted he would have no chance if the pace was too fast, like at the 2015 world championships in Beijing in August when he was lapped as Farah won in 27:01.13. “I don’t know what happened,” said Mokoka. “I think I overtrained. Everything shut down.”
Even in a slow tactical race Mokoka would need to attack the field early on because waiting for the attack from Farah or one of the East Africans would be suicidal.
“To run a good 10 000m you have to be able to play with speed and be able to play with tactics,” said Meyer.
By comparison, only one Olympic marathon winner, in 2008, has gone faster than Mokoka’s best, which would have still been good enough for bronze.
Pretoria-based Mokoka, who grew up in Mahikeng, North West, has frequently heard the marathon argument, but he is comfortable with his decision.
“I hear that, but I have a proper coach,” he said, referring to Michael Seme, who guided Caster Semenya to her 800m world championship gold in 2009.
“I need to learn a marathon first. I’m just doing one marathon a year.
“I’m still young and I believe that I can improve my times on the track.”
Hendrick Ramaala, a fourtimes Olympian in both the 10 000m and marathon, believes Mokoka can “surprise” at Rio 2016.
“He’s a hard man. He hasn’t been allowed to focus on track. He’s still building confidence.”
Ramaala still owns the 27:29.94 SA 10 000m record, but he believes his younger compatriot can break it.
“He’s a better runner than I was,” Ramaala said.
“I believe I could have gone faster in the 10 000m, but I didn’t get the opportunity. I still had unfinished business on the track when I left,” he said, suggesting Mokoka must leave without regret one day.
Mokoka, who plans to leave the track for marathon after the 2017 world championships in London, admitted he was targeting Ramaala’s record.
But in his typically humble manner, he reckoned it would happen only in 2017. “In two year’s time it’s possible to attempt it. It needs proper experience, proper race tactics.”
Mokoka has frequently overburdened himself with races — road is where the money is, track is about love — but next year would be different with a short schedule, he vowed.
He intends doing everything possible to find the bin in Brazil next year.
Going for the marathon would have been a better choice He’s a hard man. He hasn’t been allowed to focus on track