South Africa's Akani Simbine reacts after competing in the men's 100m semi-final of the athletics event at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at Stade de France in Saint-Denis, north of Paris Akani Simbine will lead Team SA in the 4x100m relays starting on Thursday at the Paris Olympics. Photo: Jewel Samad/AFP
The SA men’s 4x100m relay team will begin their quest to win Mzansi’s first medal on the track at the Paris Olympics on Thursday.
That mission has been complicated with the withdrawal of Benjamin Richardson after he pulled his hamstring in the men’s 200m heats on Monday. The 20-year-old was subsequently ruled out of the rest of the Olympics on Tuesday following an MRI scan.
It leaves Akani Simbine, Shaun Maswanganyi Bradley Nkoana as the remaining first-choice runners for Team SA. The withdrawal of Richardson meant Bayanda Walaza is set to be called up as a replacement.
The team can also call on Sinesipho Dambile and Wayde van Niekerk if needed.
Never in doubt for Emmanuel Wanyonyi 🔥
— SuperSport 🏆 (@SuperSportTV) August 7, 2024
The Kenyan wins his heat in the Men's 800m 👟![CDATA[]]>🎽
📺 Stream #Paris2024 live: https://t.co/rM90YyQxaw#CloserToYourChampions pic.twitter.com/FsWG8OkBVb
For Van Niekerk in particular, it may be his last chance to pick up another medal at the Olympics. The 2016 men’s 400m gold medallist and world record holder is now aged 32, and it’s unlikely he will compete at another Olympics.
He will compete in the men’s 200m semi-finals on Wednesday evening.
For Simbine, his age is also against him at 30-years-old. He may just be young enough to feature for Team SA at the Olympics in 2028.
In fact, Simbine may just be the unluckiest sprinter ever, as he finished fourth in the closest men’s 100m final in Olympic history on Sunday.
Simbine improved his own South African record from 9.84 he set three years ago just for good measure.
Still, his efforts were not enough to claim a podium spot.
The career of Simbine has seen him come agonisingly close to medalling at the Olympics, as he took fourth in Tokyo and finished fifth at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
He has also been just as unlucky at World Championships finishing fifth in 2017, fourth in 2019 and sixth in 2022.
Unless Simbine has better fortune in the twilight of his career, it’s fair to say that he might just go down in the annals of sprinting history as the most underrated SA athlete of all time.