Our stars have ability, but need the belief

Some of the images which have captured the performances of local distance runners over the last few decades are treasured among the most memorable moments in South African sport.

Elana Meyer’s symbolic “victory” lap with Ethiopian Derartu Tulu, after Meyer launched a massive effort off the front of the pack in the 1992 Olympic 10 000m final in Barcelona, is perhaps the most significant of the lot.

Josia Thugwane’s hand-waving gesture as he coasted down the home straight to win marathon gold at the 1996 Atlanta Games, with Lee Bong-Ju of South Korea launching a desperate drive to chase down the unheralded South African, is another.

Amid those key moments, interspersed over the space of around 15 years, long-distance runners repeatedly made good on the threat that had been fired dur- ing sporting isolation.

The nation had warned it would give the road running world a shake after SA’s top athletes were unleashed after readmission, and though it could have gone better, we can hardly complain.

Between 1991 and 2004, six athletes won either the men’s or women’s titles at races which now form part of the World Marathon Majors series. David Tsebe, Xolile Yawa and Colleen de Reuck all won the Berlin Marathon, Willie Mtolo and Hendrick Ramaala were triumphant at the New York Marathon, and Gert Thys stormed to victory at the Tokyo Marathon.

Between 1994 and 1999 the nation bagged seven medals at the World Half-Marathon Championships, spearheaded by Meyer and Ramaala, in the individual and team divisions.

Following the retirement of the 90s generation, however, the distance running pool has dried up.

Wesley Bo on

That’s not to suggest South Africa hasn’t produced any great athletes over the last decade, it’s just that they haven’t kept up with the best in the world, and as good as the likes of Stephen Mokoka, Elroy Gelant and Lusapho April may be, they have no major championship medals to prove it.

Granted, the previous generation did not have to face the overwhelming depth of the East African juggernaut, but they were as hard as nails and never gave an inch. The current crop can learn from the ghosts of running past.

In 1999, when Ramaala was edged out by Paul Tergat at the World Half-Marathon Championships, he took the Kenyan legend all the way to the line.

And when the duo stormed neck-and-neck through Central Park at the 2005 New York Marathon, though he again lost out in a sprint finish, Ramaala exerted so much energy in his final surge he crashed onto the tar.

Only the great Haile Gebrselassie ever gave Tergat that much trouble in a major race – and Ramaala did it twice.

Even when Meyer ran at home, racing on her own, she gave it all she had, clocking some of the fastest times in the world on SA soil.

In 1992, with Tulu breathing down her neck, Meyer fought with every stride, refusing to allow her stronger opponent to gain even the slightest mental edge.

The current group of elite South African distance runners have the talent and the determination, regardless of how good their Kenyan and Ethiopian counterparts appear to be.

They have the ability to beat the best, and when they don’t, they have the power to give the world’s best athletes a reminder that local road running is alive and well. All they really need is the belief. A self-trained runner from Joburg, Ramaala was simply too gangly and too slow to race against the likes of Tergat.

But he defied standard logic and gave it a go because no matter what his opponents believed in his abilities, Ramaala refused to accept he was second-best.

The local distance running trophy cabinet has become dusty in recent years, but it doesn’t need to remain bare. All we need is for elite SA athletes to accept they’re strong enough to break through barriers.

It worked for Ramaala and Meyer. It’ll work for their compatriots too.