An Olympic medal is Shange’s focus in 2016
From Orange Farm, where life is cheap, to competing on world stage
WALKER Lebogang Shange spent a quiet Christmas on Friday, preferring to train on his own in Pretoria than return home to Orange Farm in the south of Johannesburg.
“I will celebrate Christmas after the [2016 Rio] Olympics,” smiled Shange, who finished 11th in the 20km walk at this year’s world championships in Beijing, China.
His focus is the Rio Games, where he is aiming for a top-three finish.
If all goes according to plan, Shange will spend most of 2016 outside the country preparing for the Brazil showpiece, starting with a two-month training camp in Canberra, Australia, at the invitation of Jared Tallent, an Olympic medallist in both the 20km and 50km events.
Shange’s 50km teammate, Marc Mundell, was on the same camp recently and he capped it off with a new national record this month. Shange departs on January 4. Competing on the world stage is a far cry from Orange Farm township, where life is cheap, says Shange, who grew up in Soweto before moving south as a teenager.
The 25-year-old was at a club with friends soon after his Africa Games victory in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo, in September when a gang of youths attacked for no apparent reason.
One of them struck a woman on the head with a panga, killing her.
“There are different gangs there. There’s one called the Vampires, and they kill people they find outside on the streets after 10pm.
“You go there [to Orange Farm] and you’ll see somebody get stabbed right in front of you.
“Grade nine and 10 pupils are wearing pangas in their belts to school,” he says, adding he would like to change things in the township when he has the fame and money to make a difference.
Already he has started the Team Shange club in Soweto, and would like to do something similar in Orange Farm to motivate youngsters.
Shange is fortunate to have a friend, based in Switzerland, who has been his benefactor, paying for him to get to competitions and camps in Europe.
He is also sponsored by the High Performance Centre at the University of Pretoria, and has a clothing contract with sports apparel giant Nike.
But cold cash is hard to come by; in Europe a good pay cheque for him is à2 000 (about R32 500).
“I need to earn money from races. I want to save up because I need to get my own home by the time I’m 30,” said Shange.
“I can’t stay here [in Orange Farm] all the time,” he added with a smile. Shange is also a breadwinner. “When I go home, that’s the challenge. They expect me to bring food.
“That’s when you feel our government is not supporting us,” says Shange, who broke five national records last year — twice in the 20km and on the track in the 3 000m, 5 000m and 20 000m.
His performance in China wasn’t good enough to get on to the Operation Excellence funding programme of the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee.
“People think because I’m on TV I’m getting paid, that I’m loaded. I’m earning nothing,” says the talkative athlete, who refers to his 20-year-old car as “my old wreck”.
Shange believes the biggest change he needs to make to reach the podium in Rio is mental.
“At [Beijing] world championships I was scared to go out fast,” he said. “At the 2012 World Cup in Russia I went fast and hit the wall and the last 6km were bad.”
Shange is famous for his fast finishes, and has clocked 3min 40sec per kilometre — or 22 seconds per 100m.
He is now working with a psychologist to overcome this: “I must be fearless.”
❛ People think that because I’m on television I’m getting paid, that I’m loaded. I’m earning nothing