The race to be crowned the fastest man and woman on earth is on with South Africa's Akani Simbine in medal contention. As the Paris Olympics action heats up.
SIMBINE TO SHOW HE’S ONE IN EIGHT BILLION
The race is on to be crowned the fastest man (and woman) on earth this weekend. Both the women’s (Saturday) and men’s (Sunday) gold medals will be handed out at the Stade de France in Paris.
South African eyes will be on Akani Simbine, who has finished fifth and fourth in the last two Olympics. He comes into the Olympics with form and no reason to not feel confident. Now, just making the final means the athlete is one of the eight fastest human beings over 100 metres.
Out of a population of 8 billion people. Sprinting is the purest form of any sport. We need to appreciate how good these sprinters really are. A winning time on Sunday night? Let’s go under 9.80 for gold.
I firmly believe we will see fast times, and bearing in mind there have only been four sub-9.80 recordings in Olympic history. Noah Lyles is favourite.
TENNIS SEES CHANGING OF THE GUARD
This weekend is also the men’s and women’s finals of the Olympic tennis event at Roland Garros. It really does feel as if the guard has well and truly changed and the past few days saw what is probably the end of Rafa Nadal as a competitive player at this level.
With Carlos Alcaraz leading the young brigade, it’s now down to Novak Djokovic to try to keep Gen Z at bay. However, you feel as if Father Time is standing next him, ready to tap him on the shoulder and say, “move over”, Alcaraz is coming through. Another “oldie” to announce his retirement at Paris was an emotional Andy Murray. Who’s chopping onions?
MOTOGP BACK IN THE SPOTLIGHT
There’s a break in Formula One action until later in the month, but petrolheads can still get their fix this weekend. It’s back to two wheels again after a month’s break and the travelling circuit switches to Silverstone for the British MotoGP.
South African hopes will again rest on Brad Binder, who has all but flatlined in the standings in seventh spot behind Francesco Bagnaia. Last week Carlos Sainz recorded the fastest lap at Silverstone, clocking 1:28.293 seconds in his Ferrari. To gauge how quick that is, the lap record for the same circuit in MotoGP is that of Alex Rons, a 1:59.346.
HOW PROFESSIONAL BRANDS HAVE STUCK IN RUGBY
While sitting around at the Paris Olympics, I heard a Team SA member remark. “the Bulls smashed the Stormers in the Currie Cup back home”. They were referring to the Bulls beating their traditional rivals 50-34 last weekend.
Which also highlights how powerful a brand is. After all, in the Currie Cup, it’s Western Province, not the Stormers, which is similar to the sevens rugby where it’s Team SA at the Olympics and not the Blitzboks. Whatever you call them though, the Bulls go into this week’s Currie Cup fifth round as the only unbeaten side. They travel to Bloemfontein, while the Puma host the Sharks, P-r-o-v-i-n-c-e are home to the Griffons and Griquas entertain the Lions.
WINDIES A SHADOW OF THE GREAT ERA
South Africa, or sticking with the above, the men’s Proteas, are in the Caribbean and playing a warm-up in Tarouba ahead of their first of two Tests against West Indies starts next week. The Windies are back on home soil after their 3-0 Test mauling by England and will be licking their wounds. However, they’re a far cry from their halcyon days.
They were actually South Africa’s opponents in their first Test after returning from isolation in 1992, and they won that Test by 52 runs. The Windies have, sadly, become a faded force. They’ve now won only three tests, while South Africa have won 22 of the 30 Tests played since 1992. In fact, over the last 20 years, the Caribbeans have only won once from 13 matches. It’s sad for the entire sport how far they have slid down the order.
