Page 10 - Fourways Gardens July 2021

Estate News

jAdA vAn StAden SetS her

SIGhtS On the OlYMpIcS

I hard and slowly started competing at a
started participating in competitive
athletics in Pre-primary school and, by
reduced pace to avoid any injuries again.
At this point, all I really wanted was to run
the age of nine, I had competed at my first
national championships. I had realised
at an early stage of my life that track and pain-free. I competed in the Newton Classic
shootout with top athletes like Caster
field was my passion and I already started Semenya and Wenda Nel who are both
dreaming about competing in the Olympic Olympians. The next goal was to qualify for
Games. the national championships in March 2020.
During the qualification event I ran the
Throughout my childhood, I enjoyed 400m hurdles early that Saturday morning
participating in the short sprints and hurdles. and experienced my anxiety, which became
As I grew older, I preferred racing in the 300m an ongoing problem, for the first time. I
hurdles and 400m dash and eventually I managed to pull myself together and later
progressed to racing the 400m hurdles. that day I ran a world lead time in the 100m
hurdles which was not my official event. I was
I competed at national level and finished really excited and motivated to prepare and
on the podium each successive year since, compete at nationals the following week in
until at the age of 14 (in 2018), I won three Cape Town.
gold medals at the South African National
Track and Field Championships. My time in Then President Ramaphosa announced the
the 400m was the fastest time recorded for national COVID-19 lockdown which resulted
a youth athlete in the world during that year. in all sports events being cancelled. For
While finishing on a high in 2018, 2019 was a several months, I was unable to train or access
disastrous year - I suffered two major injuries, any training facilities. During this period, I
including fracturing my hip and having worked closely with my team consisting of
plantar fasciitis, a type of tendinitis in my foot. my coach (Nico van Heerden), physio (Karen
This was all due to rapid growth spurts. I spent Gibbs), agent (Lee-Roy Newton), sports
a year and a half recovering and undergoing psychologist (Kirsten van Heerden) and
rehabilitation. sponsor (Puma) to ensure that this hiatus
did not go to waste. Earlier this year (2021), I
Once I could run again, I trained extremely was allowed to run on a track again, however
it was uncertain whether any national and
international competitions were going to be
scheduled.
Fast forward to March 2021, I competed
in three events at the Junior South African
Championships in Paarl in the Western Cape,
where I won the gold medal in the 400m
hurdles. Subsequently, I competed at the
Senior National Championships and was a
finalist in the 400m hurdles as a junior athlete
(17 years old). Shortly after that, I was included
in the preparation squad for the World Junior
Championships team to be hosted in Kenya
in August this year. Currently, I am spending
5 - 6 hours per day, 5 days a week preparing
for the World Championships in Kenya.

The balance between strenuous training
and matric has been a test in itself but I am
preparing myself mentally and physically for
the challenges ahead and I am extremely
excited.

Fourways Gardens • 8 • July 2021