Zakithi Nene's journey from Olympic disappointment to world championship contender
South Africa's 400m star Zakithi Nene credits a hard reset after the Paris Olympics for taking him up a level in the one-lap sprint, making him one of the early favourites for the world championships in Tokyo later this year.
The tall, easy-going sprinter with a fluid, upright style blazed to this year's world-leading time of 43.76sec at the Kip Keino Classic in Nairobi.
The personal best time left him in elite company, joining 400m world record holder Wayde van Niekerk as the only South African athletes to run under 44 seconds in the event.
A narrow loss to Olympic champion Quincy Hall (44.22) at the Rome Diamond League meeting by one-hundredth of a second the following weekend (44.23) denied him back-to-back titles.
When we caught up with him at Kings Park Athletics Stadium in Durban recently, it was clear how much that result had hurt.
No pain, no gain
Under the watchful eye of coach Victor Vaz, he was put through a gruelling training routine that made me tired just watching, gliding over the track in blustery conditions at speeds that seemed barely human. Poetry in motion.
And just when it looked like he was spent, he would go again after a short rest, showing the kind of drive and determination that champions are made of as he pushed through the pain barrier time and again.
No pain, no gain, they say, and for the likeable 27-year-old from Ladysmith, who spent most of his life in Durban, right now the gains are there for the world to see.
The turning point for the speedster came after last year's Olympic Games in Paris.
'Walking into Paris I'd been a semi-finalist in the last three, four championships that I had participated in, so I was looking to go one better. Unfortunately, I also go knocked out in the semi-finals there too,' he told Independent Media Sport exclusively after his training session.
'And we finished fifth in the 4X400 relay in the Olympic final. So I think that was the turning point for me in my career.
'I think I really didn't take the Paris Olympics too well, so I found myself in a position whereby my coach Victor Vaz and I were reflecting on the calendar year and how we did throughout the year.
'I've been doing 400s for too long and I'm pretty much programmed to train a certain way, run a certain way, compete a certain way. So we found ourselves in a position whereby we were just relearning the event, fixing some of the things which were an issue.'
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