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Akani Simbine delivered another storming run as he took South Africa from fifth to second in the 4x100m relay at Stade de France on Friday night to secure the first major medal of his career.
The man who had missed out so narrowly in the 100m final on Sunday, finishing fourth by one-hundredth of a second, delivered a superb performance as the anchor, streaking the final leg in an incredible 8.78sec take the silver medal in a 37.57sec African record.
Schoolboy Bayanda Walaza got the team off to a good start, clocking 10.41 before handing over to Shaun Maswanganyi, who did 9.06 down the back straight.
Bradley Nkoana, at 19 just one year older than Walaza, went around the bend in 9.32 before handing over to Simbine.
Simbine also finished fourth in the 100m at the Tokyo Olympics and fifth at Rio 2016. He was fourth at the world championships in 2019 and fifth in 2017 and 2022.
And when Benjamin Richardson withdrew earlier in the week after injuring his hamstring during the 200m semifinals, it seemed that the relay was doomed.
“We were a bit worried,” Simbine admitted, saying that the training camp in Montpellier had given them the confidence to reorganise quickly and move on.
Walking into Stade de France was intimidating for Walaza. “I’ll say it was truly scary, especially when they were calling us to go in.
“It was truly scary, but then I had to manage it to be strong and be like, ‘let me just do this, I usually do this all the time’, so I just went out with it.”
By the time he was in the blocks he was calm. “The fear was out,” said Walaza, an Olympic medallist at his first Games.
Simbine had to wait for three Olympics to get his medal. “I think this one is not just for me, man. I think this one is for everybody. I think it’s not just for South Africa but for the world. I think I’ve had so much support from guys that I run against, from guys that are athletes.
“And they've always been saying, ‘We want you to win a medal, we want you to win a medal, we’re rooting for you’.
“And this for me is not just for me but for everybody. And yeah, I’m just super happy, man. I’m really, really, really happy. I might not show it, but people that actually know me know that I'm actually really happy right now,” Simbine said without stopping smiling.
“And yeah, I think the rest of the emotions will come to me when I get into my own space.
“But I'm just happy and I'm grateful for everyone. I'm grateful for these kids and these guys for running with me and pushing us to this medal.”
This is South Africa's first Olympic medal in this event and the country's first medal at a major competition since the world championships in 2017.
