Thanks to her intimate knowledge of her athletes' abilities, coach Emmarie Fouche believes Khotso Mokoena and Lynique Prinsloo are potential dark horses for medals at the Rio Olympic Games.
Mokoena will be competing at his fourth Olympics, while Prinsloo will make her debut as the only South African female long jumper at the Games.
“There will be three categories, the definites, the definites if everything goes well, and the might be in the medals,” Fouche said at the launch of Mokoena’s Entrepreneurial Sports Walk in Pretoria yesterday.
“So, it all depends on the day, and (Mokoena's) got everything to pull it out, he is the one that no-one expects and I will put Lynique in that same category.
Double national record-holder Mokoena made his Olympic debut 12 years ago in the hop-skip-and-jump before winning the country’s only medal at the Beijing 2008 Games finishing second in the long jump.
He will come full circle, aiming for silverware in the triple jump, which Fouche believes he is more than capable of doing in Rio.
“Khotso is not going for fun, the support structure is there, he is in a good place, he can focus after this (his launch yesterday) was a success. He’s got the heart, the head, and the experience,” Fouche said.
Mokoena finished ninth in the triple jump at last year’s IAAF World Championships in Beijing with a best attempt of 16.81m while missing out on a spot in the final of the long jump.
“I will never make this mistake again, the top athletes must decide to focus on one event. And that is the mistake we made with Khotso last year, for him to do both,” Fouche said.
Mokoena launched the Entrepreneurial Sports Walk that will take place at the High Performance Centre (hpc) in Pretoria in October.
The aim of the initiative is to create an annual networking opportunity for young South Africans to interact with business people and promote entrepreneurship. Instead of prize money, Mokoena will pay university entrance fees for one participant that will be drawn at the walk, while he will also pay a selected long jump athlete’s professional coaching fees for a year.
The Entrepreneurial Sports Walk is a 4km and 8km event that takes place within the grounds of the hpc.
“The Khotso Mokoena Foundation is hosting youth entrepreneurs from various areas who sport business skills and we try to equip them with business training and source out funding for them so that they can succeed,” Mokoena said. “We especially aid athletes finishing their careers that go into business.
“So, we equip them to be successful in the business world during and after a life spent as athletes. - The Star