The official countdown has started for the highly-anticipated 2024 Paris Olympics which is set to get underway in the French capital this Friday, July 26 to August 11.
This event is set to attract thousands of spectators with about 10 500 athletes competing for medals.
Team South Africa has a squad of nearly 150 athletes at the Paris 2024 event, where the country will be making its ninth appearance at this ultimate sporting event since its readmission into international sport in 1991.
This sporting event consists of different sports codes which include swimming, athletics, football, hockey, rugby sevens, cycling road, golf, marathon swimming, tennis, table tennis, volleyball, water polo etc.
With everything that will be happening during this period, most eyes will be on the South African athlete and a world record holder for 400m, Wayde Van Niekerk who is standing a chance to make history yet again at this ultimate athletic event should South Africa relay teams win medals.
South Africa qualified to the 4x100m, and the 4x400m, where they are considered a top medal contender after their silver at the 2024 World Relays.
Van Niekerk will be running in both relays and will also be participating in the men’s 200m race.
The relay will begin on August 8 same day as the 200m final.
If South Africa is victorious in both relay events, the 4x100m final is on August 9 and the 4x400m the following night — Van Niekerk will again make history at the Olympics to add to his world-record performance by winning gold eight years ago.
Van Niekerk made history when he shattered Michael Johnson’s record in winning the final in Brazil the world record in 2016 with a time of 43.03
Van Niekerk has only raced once in the 400m this season, a third-place finish at the New York City Grand Prix on 9 June, following a career-threatening knee injury.
This means that he needs to bring his best in order for the South African team’s 400m relay to make it to the podium.
Here is the list of other athletes to look out for :
Akani Simbine (Men’s 100m)
Now South Africa’s veteran sprinter, Simbine will be at the peak of his powers in Paris. The 30-year-old has been given the honour of leading out Team SA as a flag bearer, which could inspire him to greater heights on track.
Results-wise, Simbine has a season’s best of 9.94 seconds and has placed first in two Diamond League meets this year. The sprinter is also a key part of the men’s 4x100m relay team. He will be looking to improve on his fourth-place finish in 2020, where he narrowly missed out on a medal.
Boipelo Awuah (Women’s Street Skateboarding)
Awuah is one of the lesser-known athletes on this list. Selected to be part of the 2020 SA Olympic team at just 15 years old, the starlet aimed to make a splash on the ramps of Tokyo. But her Olympic dream was cut short.
Tatjana Smith (Women’s Swimming)
Smith (nee Schoenmaker) was one of Team South Africa’s success stories of the 2020 Olympic Games. In the prelims of the 100m breaststroke, the Johannesburg native set an Olympic Record. In the finals, she would narrowly lose out to the gold medal but the silver she earned was the first medal for an SA woman in the pool since 2000.
But Smith’s best was yet to come. Smith stormed into the 200m breaststroke finals, where she won gold and set a new World Record for the distance.
Blitzboks (Men’s Rugby Sevens)
As the rebuild continues, the Blitzboks endured a tumultuous season on the Sevens circuit, winning the opening round in Dubai but falling way short in the middle of the season.
A poor season forced the Blitzboks into an Olympic qualification tournament. They will take solace from the good form shown there, moving through unbeaten to secure a place in Paris.
Led by playmaker Selvyn Davids with the dangerous Rosko Specman as his lieutenant, the Blitzboks will be eager to improve on their fifth-place finish in Tokyo in 2020.
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