By Mark Etheridge
Olympic track finalist Juan van Deventer kicked off his late bid for inclusion at this year’s Games in London with a solid second spot in Germany this week.
Van Deventer has been out of action for just on a year after being hit by a car while training near Ruimsig in Johannesburg last year.
He required surgery to his kneecap but has patiently worked his way back to fitness. Now he’s in a race against time to recapture the form that saw him place seventh in the 1500-metre final in Beijing four years ago.
In action in small meeting in Germany, he placed second in 3min 38.69sec, not bad going for a first comeback race and just 0.69sec of a B qualifying time. To come into contention for Team SA in London he needs to run two A qualifying times of 3:35.50 by the end of June.
Its only a few seconds off the qualifying standard and hopefully next weekend I can go abit faster. I am happy to have the first race behind me now,” Van Deventer told Road to London 2012.
“Next race is on the 27th in Hengelo, Netherlands and that should be a fast line-up. A guy from Morocco won in 3:37.70.”
What was it like getting back into the hum-drum of race action?. The pace felt ok, the middle laps were a bit slow. I was very unsure and felt extremely rusty. Hopefully now that I have a race behind me I will feel more confidant again and challenge the qualifying time.”
As for the knee ÔÇô “I’m completely recovered after the race and no niggles, so will put in a good week of training and go for a faster time in the next race.”