'This time we are ready' - Moloi confident that ASA Athletes will win 3 or 4 Olympic medals

After returning from Tokyo 2021 without winning a single medal for the first time since readmission in 1992, the athletics section of the South African Olympic team was on an all-time low. But things went from bad to worse as the country had to endure two barren editions of the Athletics World Championships in 2022 and 2023, where the national team struggled once again. But after sending a strong athletics team to the Paris Olympics, Athletics South Africa President James Moloi is confident of a better showing.

The team which left for the French capital on Saturday will be spearheaded by flag-bearer Akani Simbine who is looking like the genuine article. The 2018 Commonwealth Games gold medalist is now an experienced campaigner with two Olympic final appearances under his belt, one of which was a fourth place finish three years ago. The 7-time national 100m champion produced a season's best 9.86 to take second place at last week's London Diamond League behind America's Noah Lyles (9.81) and ahead of Letsile Tebogo of Botswana (9.88). Moloi, like the rest of the nation, believes Akani will end up on the podium, adding that he could be one or two individual medalists.

Simbine in action at the World Relay Championships in the Bahamas where he ran the anchor leg and led the 4x100m team to Olympic qualification. Photo Credit: ASA Media.

"I'm hundred percent sure that this time Akani is very hungry and he wants to win the medal. And in the 800m, we have Prudence Sekgodišo who promised that she will do her level best and if you can check her performance she might be there with them. So anything is possible this year," he explained.

Moloi's analysis is spot on. Simbine is perhaps the only real individual medal hopeful, while the likes of Sekgodišo and Marione Fourie have an outside chance of claiming a bronze if everything goes their way. But not so in the relays where ASA have invested time and money in training camps, leading Moloi to boldly predict that the men's 4x100m and the men's 4x400m relay teams are likely to end up on the rostrum.

Moloi speaking at the ASA Awards which took place in January 2024. The awards coincided with a planning session where administrators, athletes and their coaches met to plan for the Olympic year. Photo Credit: Tumelo Mabua.

"We started very early. We met with the athletes and their coaches in January and they explained that they want a camp to practice. Everything is in place. In the 100m relay we are going to bring a medal, it can be gold, it can silver, it can be bronze. I even spoke to them this week and said: 'Please don't drop the baton. You saw your mistakes in Budapest (2023). Please don't repeat them.' In the 4x400m relay Wayde van Niekerk is going to run the last leg, so the 4x400m we are going to get a medal. Maybe we might get three to four medals, which will be a bonus for us. This time we are ready."

And for those that do end up in the top three of their discipline, there will be financial reward. "Even SASCOC have put an incentive of R400 000 for gold (R200 000 for silver and R75 000 for bronze) and World Athletics have put $50 000 for Olympic gold medalists, which is the only sporting code which is going to pay on the day. And Athletics South Africa will put something on the table, and they know about that because we spoke to them about it. We are not going to commit in terms of Rands, but we are going to add something and whatever it is, it will count a lot."