All good things do come to an end. So it should be no big surprise that the South African 400metre-hurdles record holder, LJ van Zyl, has decided to put his spikes away for good.
The retirement brings to an end an athletics career that spanned nearly 17 years which produced three Commonwealth Games medals and two World Championships medals.
Often after an athlete has retired, they cannot help but wonder if it was the right decision.
But Van Zyl has no such regrets after he failed to progress beyond the heats of the recent Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast of Australia.
‘I had a wonderful career. There were magic moments on the track. For me, athletics has always been about more than just winning and clocking fast times. Through my travels from race to race, I got to see the world and meet wonderful people, some of whom will be friends for life.’
According to the Tuks athlete, the main reason he decided to retire is that the ‘butterflies’ are gone.
‘Every athlete knows that feeling that when you line up to race, it feels as if butterflies are fluttering in your stomach. That moment is all about a sense of excitement, adrenaline and nervousness as you never know how your race is going to play out.
‘That feeling has gone. On the last few occasions, I felt nothing. I just raced and was going through the motions.
‘I always said to myself that I would never just race for the sake of racing. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still passionate about athletics especially, the 400m hurdles, but personally, the magic has gone.
‘The other reason why I’m retiring is that our second son [with wife Irvette] will be born in June.’
According to Van Zyl athletics has certainly changed his life for the better.
‘Athletics helped me overcome polio, and I got to meet Irvette, in 2004 at the South African Junior Championships in Bloemfontein.’
Not racing doesn’t mean that Van Zyl is finished with athletics. If he has his way, he will be involved for years to come. He is looking forward to the new challenges he has set himself.
‘I honestly feel that I can be an excellent mentor to young athletes and not necessary only track and field athletes. One of the most important things the youngsters should realise that it is nice to be fast and be a champion but it’s not going to last forever.
‘If you’re lucky you might be competitive for five to 10 years.
‘The question young athletes need to ask themselves is what they are going to do when they retire. Throughout my athletic career, I was studying and am currently busy with my master’s degree. I think every athlete should think about studying something,’ said the Tuks-athlete.
Patience is the one thing Van Zyl wants every young aspiring athlete to have.
‘I wanted to retire in 2010 as I was struggling. I only won gold at the national championships as well as the African Champs but in the rest of my races, I was struggling to find my form. But then I surprised myself by winning silver at the Commonwealth Games. That made me realise that I still had what it takes to beat the best, so I carried on.”
In 17 years there were many highlights but Van Zyl considers his South African record-breaking run in 2011 at Tuks as a definite highlight as he clocked 47.66. Another highlight was dipping under 48 seconds for the first time.
‘I was already running 48.05s in 2005 but I had to work another four years before I could break 48 seconds. I only got to do so in 2009 in Monaco when I ran 47.94.’
Van Zyl considers Bershawn Jackson to have been his toughest rival. ‘Bershawn frustrated me. Not only because he is so much smaller than me, but he also has a bad hurdling technique. And still he was victorious on most occasions when we raced but I don’t hold it against him. We’re still good friends.’
In his career, Van Zyl has managed to clock an astonishing 108 sub 49.50 races in the 400m hurdles.
That time is the benchmark to being considered a good 400m-hurdler.
He has gone under 49 seconds on 68 occasions and dipped under 48 seconds on six occasions.
Some of Van Zyl’s highlights:
– In 2002 he was world junior champion
– In 2006 he won a gold medal at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games as well as helping the SA 4x400m-relay win silver
– In 2010 he won a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games
– In 2011 in Daegu, he won a bronze medal at the World Championships and again helped the SA 4x400m-relay to win a silver medal.
Photo: Van Zyl in action on his home track of Tuks, by Reg Caldecott