PARIS 2024: SA’s best — spectacular Wildschutt and Simbine — come so close to Olympic glory

Adriaan Wildschutt is not a name familiar to most South Africans, but it should be. He arguably produced the country’s best performance at the Paris Olympic Games in a 10,000m final of staggeringly high quality that will, probably, be lost in footnotes in years to come.

A few days later, the brilliant and consistent sprinter Akani Simbine delivered another excellent race in the men’s 100m final.

Both men left the Stade de France track with new records and personal best times. And both left without a medal, such was the quality of the fields and the performances in their respective races.

But they also leave with enhanced reputations because their feats were unmatched in South African history.

Amazing Adriaan

Wildschutt (26), whose talent was spotted by former women’s 5,000m world record holder Zola Budd-Pieterse, crossed the line in the 10,000m final in a stunning national record of 26:50.64, nearly 10 seconds faster than the Olympic record.

You know, the Olympic record held by Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele, one of the greatest distance athletes of all time, set in Beijing in 2008.

Put another way, Wildschutt’s time and performance would have won every previous Olympic final in history. And he would’ve won them by at least 60m. It was a supreme run by the little-known man from Ceres.

Wildschutt, who was inspired to run by his older brother Nadeel, and whose only early ambition was to set a clock to 20 minutes and try to cover more distance in that time each day, has come a long way.

The reason South Africans are not ­celebrating another gold medal, though, is that despite Wildschutt’s amazing effort, nine other athletes finished ahead of him in what must be the greatest single race in Olympic history.

In all, the top 13 athletes all broke Bekele’s Olympic record, with Ugandan Joshua Cheptegei confirming his greatness with a stunning run, crossing in 26:43.14 for the gold medal.

The Ugandan intends to move to marathon running now, and so ended his generational track career with a performance for the ages.

Every man for himself

Although Cheptegei’s 10,000m world record sits at 26:11.00, more than half a minute faster than he ran to win gold in Paris, the reality is that distance world records are usually set in very specific circumstances.

For world record attempts, pace makers are allowed and the race is usually one where it’s windless, cool and dry.

In an Olympic final there are no pace makers and the conditions are what they are. Runners from certain countries might work together, as the Ethiopian trio of Berihu Aregawi, Yomif Kejelcha and Selemon ­Barega did, but it’s a fight between individuals for glory.

There are two reasons the Paris 10,000m race was so fast – the new track is quick, and the main protagonists in the final unusually chose to punch and counterpunch almost from the start.

Often, a 10,000m final in a major championship can be cagey, with real racing only happening in the final 2,000m after 8km of jogging (by Olympian standards).

Read more: Olympic Games Paris 2024

This time the Ethiopians took turns in driving a relentless pace for almost the entire duration of the 25-lap showdown in an effort to sap Cheptegei and remove his sting.

The Ugandan, though, stayed near the front, but never in front. Wildschutt, too, showed his class by running at the tip of the field as each Ethiopian surge resulted in another runner or two falling away.

It was testament to the strength of the field that with 500m to go, when Cheptegei finally put the hammer down, there were a dozen other runners still in with a chance of victory – Wildschutt among them.

It was only in the final 400m, when Cheptegei’s searing pace finally shattered the Ethiopian challenge, that Wildschutt’s dream of a medal final ended.

“I thought I ran really smart,” Wildschutt said after his race. “I knew I’d have to be really good in the last three, four laps. I moved up and got myself in an amazing position.

“I stuck with the pack and it was only in the last 300m that I started struggling. I’m very satisfied and very grateful for everything that I’ve been able to accomplish so far.

“My coach and I discussed things and the plan was to conserve as much energy as possible, knowing I’d have to run a fast last 1,000m.”

Scholarship

Growing up in Ceres, there wasn’t much money, but Wildschutt and his brother were supremely talented and loved running.

Adriaan and Nadeel were spotted by former Olympian and South African great Budd-Pieterse, who helped in recruiting the brothers to Coastal Carolina University, where she was a coach.

Budd-Pieterse helped secure bursaries for both and the brothers stayed with her and her husband Mike in Myrtle Beach while they were studying.

The Wildschutt brothers completed their degrees in Carolina, and Adriaan went on to earn an MBA from Florida State after transferring during Covid. Nadeel, who is considered by some to be even more talented than Adriaan, returned to South Africa and lives with the Budd-Pieterses in Stellenbosch.

Sensational Simbine

In the men’s 100m, Simbine, for so long South Africa’s standard bearer in international competition, made it to the final for a third straight Olympics.

And he produced the run of his life, clocking 9.82s, which in the greatest Olympic 100m race of all time, was “only” good enough for fourth.

Jamaica’s Oblique Seville, who finished last, clocked 9.91 seconds. That’s how good the field was.

American Noah Lyles won by five thousandths (0.005) of a second over Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson as both were given a time of 9.79, with the US’s Fred Kerley in third in 9.81s, just one hundredth of a second ahead of Simbine.

For context, Lyles is the current world champion and it was his personal best time. For Kerley it was a season’s best, for Simbine a national record, and for sixth-placed Letsi­le Tebogo from Botswana, who finished in 9.86s, it was a national record.

For Simbine, his best was just not good enough for a medal. There is no shame in that. He produced the race of his life. No one can ask for more.

Simbine’s CV from 2016 now includes a fifth and two fourths in the Olympics and two fifths and a fourth in the world championships.

“I’m happy to have got a national record, I’m happy to have been in the final. I’m happy to be the fourth-fastest man in the world and I’m happy to have raced in three Olympic finals,” Simbine said.

“When I saw my time it consoled me. No way am I leaving the sport now. I started it very late in my life and I still want to get more out of the sport.

“I’m now 30 and running the fastest I have ever done in my life. Between Fred and me there was 0.01 seconds. I was in the race right until the end. My coach and I have been working hard to make myself faster, to be in the fight for medals.” DM

This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R35.