Johannesburg - Khotso Mokoena made his Olympic debut 12 years ago with a hop-skip-and-jump, and will come full circle hoping to add a triple jump medal to his 2008 long jump silver when he bows out at the Rio Games next month.
Mokoena first competed at the 2004 Athens Games as a Nigel High School matric pupil in the triple jump and Brazil will be his fourth Olympics.
”The 2004 Olympics were very exciting, I was still in high school in matric. All the build-ups have been hectic but to still feel the way I feel at my fourth one is a huge blessing,” Mokoena said.
”When I went to Athens doing the triple jump, I was still young, I wasn’t mature at all but now I am more matured in the triple jump specifically.”
While the former world junior triple jump champion made it to his maiden Games in 2004, he failed to advance to the final. The following year he set a new South African triple jump record of 17.25m in Durban, then went on to win silver at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia before turning his attention to long jump.Mokoena was South Africa’s sole medallist in Beijing 2008 where he finished second in the long jump before leaping to a new national record of 8.50m in 2009.
”At that time I was doing very well in the long jump, and I was also at a high level where I could jump from January through September and get results,” he recalled.
”Whereas now if I do well in January, the performances start going down as the season progresses and that is why it is a good sign that I am doing well now.”
Four years after Beijing Mokoena made it into the final at the London 2012 Games but could only manage a best jump of 7.93m for eighth place.
At the end of 2013 Mokoena decided to shift his focus back to the triple jump, teaming up with renowned horizontal jumps coach Emmarie Fouché.
The result was a stellar 2014 season for Mokoena as he won the triple jump gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow before improving his previous record in the hop-skip-and-jump by 10 centimetres.
He also became the first South African athlete to finish top of the Diamond League standings, claiming overall victory in the men’s long jump discipline.
Mokoena has won a medal at every major international athletics championships – Olympic Games, World Championships, World Indoor Championships, World Junior Championships and Commonwealth Games.Last year proved to be a relatively quiet season as he battled to find the form from the previous year.
He finished ninth in the triple jump at the IAAF World Championships in Beijing with a best attempt of 16.81m and failed to advance to the final of the long jump.Briefly splitting from Fouché, Mokoena’s early season form this year became a concern but returning to his coach before the African Athletics Championships in Durban last month seems to have brought back the spring in his step.
Mokoena bowed out of the championships in third place with a jump of 16.77m which he believes is proof he would be peaking in time of the Rio Games.
”The triple jump is getting exciting for me again, especially after the African Champs. I know it is still there and I just need to work on a few things,” Mokoena said.
”I only started to peak now at the African Champs, I am happy to be able to do that now later instead of early in the season.
”That also happened in 2014 where I started peaking in July until September and I know if that happens good results will come.”
Mokoena is feeling bullish about his chances of springing a surprise on the opposition but he is well aware he would have to uncork a jump well over 17 metres.
”If I can get a medal that would be one-one, but I would require a national record.”
The Star