Olympic medals & world records - The man behind the Curro sprint success Thabo Matebedi shares the secret to his success

In the race to be named 2024 Athletics South Africa (ASA) coach of the year award, Thabo Matebedi is streaks ahead of many of his competitors. The 42-year-old Curro Hazeldean sprints coach has enjoyed a fabulous season during which one of his charges became the first South African schoolboy to win an Olympic medal, his U17 boys relay team set a world youth record and another moved up into third place on the list of all-time fastest U18 110m hurdlers in the world. 

Coach T share the secret to his 2024 success. Photo Credit: Cecilia van Bers.

Just how has the former sprinter from Soshanguve been able to get the best out of the likes of Bayanda Walaza, Matodzi Ndou, Lesibe Dikgale and others who perform across a variety of events from 100m to both the short and long hurdles? The man who first made a name for himself as a promising junior coach at the TuksSport High School before joining Curro says it's all about trying to balance his athletes’s workload in order to get the best out of them.

"We are very fortunate in our training group that we have 400m flat guys like Adam (Motloung) and Lesibe and we also have good flat sprinters like Inam (Dlunge), Zattu (Hlongwane) and Bayanda," he told #TheTopRunner shortly after Dlunge, Hlongwane, Motloung and Ndou ran 39.92 at the North West University's Top 30 Athletics Meet on Friday night (11 October) - the fastest time ever run by U18 boys anywhere on planet earth. 

Coach T pictured with Ndou one of his star athletes. Photo Credit: Cecilia van Bers.

"So for example what happens with Matodzi is that he falls between the two sessions where three days he does the long sessions with Lesibe and then on the other two days he does the short sessions with the shorter distance runners with one day off for full recovery and another day of active rest," he explained singling out Ndou who performs over 400m hurdles, is the U18 SA record holder for 110m hurdles, while remaining competitive over 100m and 200m flat.

Having crafted an effective training programme and blessed with an abundance of talent with tremendous support from the Curro Hazeldean management, Matebedi revealed that he came to believe that he had all the resources he needed to produce the fast youth boys 4x100m relay team in the world.

Ndou, Dlunge, Motloung and Hlongwane give the thumbs up after running a 4x100m U18 Boys record at the Ken McArthur Stadium in Potchefstroom on Friday 11 October. Photo Credit: Curro Hazeldean.

"The relay was part of the plan from earlier this year that we need to run a world record. Firstly we ran a South African record at one of the ASA Grand Prix events at the University of Johannesburg earlier this year. So we needed to better that time because I wanted to give them the gift that they can leave school with good memories. It helps to have guys like Bayanda and Matodzi in your team because they are the most talented sprinters and they motivate others. They show other young athletes that it is possible."