Less than six years after South Africa raked in a historic 10 medals on the Rio Olympics, there was an entire altering of the guard, and if the SA staff are going to safe podium locations on the 2024 Paris Games, they must flip to a brand new breed of youthful stars.
At the 2016 Rio Games the squad was excellent, and with most of the medallists ranging between the ages of 23 and 25, the long run appeared vivid in Olympic codes.
Now, nevertheless, as we sit up for Paris, these performances are little greater than distant recollections.
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The SA staff’s two gold medallists in Rio, sprinter Wayde van Niekerk and Caster Semenya, are shadows of their former selves on the worldwide circuit.
Van Niekerk has struggled to regain his greatest type since choosing up a knee damage in 2017, and although the 400m world document holder stays assured that he could make a full comeback, he was eradicated within the semifinals finally 12 months’s Tokyo Olympics and it has been practically 5 years since he final dipped beneath 44.50.
Semenya, in the meantime, continues to be not allowed to compete in her favoured 800m occasion with out taking hormone suppressants, and whereas she continues to take part over the 5 000m distance, she is simply not as aggressive over 12-and-a-half-laps.
Meanwhile, lengthy jumper Luvo Manyonga and javelin thrower Sunette Viljoen, who earned silver medals in Rio, have each basically retired from competitors, together with swimmer Cameron van der Burgh.
Similarly, after bagging two silvers in Rio, Chad le Clos has handed his greatest, although he’s nonetheless battling away within the pool.
Le Clos secured 5 medals on the 2018 Commonwealth Games and two bronze medals on the 2019 World Championships, however he missed out on the rostrum on the Tokyo Olympics and the 30-year-old former big killer withdrew from the World Championships in Budapest final month.
Elsewhere, Rio bronze medallist Henri Schoeman went on to win gold on the 2018 Commonwealth Games, however he hasn’t stepped on the rostrum for greater than three years within the Triathlon World Series and he didn’t end the Tokyo Olympics as a result of an ankle damage.
The rowing pair of Lawrence Brittain and Shaun Keeling are additionally not a power, with Keeling having retired from competitors and Brittain forming half of the SA males’s 4 who settled for fourth place within the B last on the Tokyo Olympics.
Battling Blitzboks
And after securing bronze on the Rio Games, the Blitzboks had been eradicated within the semi-finals on the 2018 Commonwealth Games and settled for fifth place on the Tokyo Olympics.
Though they gained the primary 4 tournaments within the 2021/22 World Rugby Sevens Series, they’ve struggled of their final 4 occasions and are simply two factors forward of Australia heading into the ultimate leg in Los Angeles subsequent month, and they’re seemingly not the staff they as soon as had been.
Not that there aren’t youthful athletes coming via – we do have medal hopes forward of the Paris Games – however it’s stunning that such a incredible generation of athletes vanished so soon.
The Class of 2016 had been superior. They might be remembered as a lot as they’re missed.
