Hestrie wants Olympic gold

2003-09-12 21:19

De Jongh Borchardt

Pretoria - Hestrie Cloete says athletics is all about titles and not money.

The world champion in the women's high jump is one of six South Africans taking part in the IAAF Grand Prix final in Monte Carlo on Saturday. Cloete is not just aiming for the gold medal, but is also aiming at becoming the IAAF's woman athlete of the year.

Her coach, Martin Marx, says: "Hestrie is feeling good and is motivated for Monte Carlo."

"She wants to make the title her own and the possiblity that she may be crowned the world's top woman athlete, is also an incentive."

Marx says the tough competition of the past few months is taking its toll. Cloete has been overseas for 11 weeks, with just a short visit to South Africa in between.

"After her return home, she wants to go to Nigeria to defend her Africa title, followed by intense training for the one medal she covets...the Olympic gold."

Cloete is second in the world rankings, just two points behind Karolina Kluft of Sweden, whose name doesn't appear on the Monaco competitors' list.

America's double world track champion, Kelli White, can put a spanner in the works. She stands at 1 421 points, 13 behind Cloete. The woman athlete of the year will receive $100 000 (about R740 000), but Marx says money is of minor importance.

Dream season

Cloete would like to see her dream season end on a high note in Monte Carlo.

She became the first woman at the end of last month who successfully defended her world high jump title when she won the event at the world championships in Paris. She also improved her own Africa record twice so far this year. Her personal best now stands at 2.06 metres. Only two women have managed to jump higher.

Apart from Cloete, six other South Africans will also be in action in Monte Carlo this weekend.

Okkert Brits will want to prove to everyone that his silver medal in Paris wasn't a fluke. He is the world's best pole vaulter at present and had a meteoric rise in the world rankings the past few weeks.

Jacques Freitag, like Cloete the world's best high jumper, has in the meantime also returned to Europe. There's talk that his ankle injury sometimes bothers him, but the young man from Pretoria isn't showing any ill effects.

His coach, Jonathan Greyvenstein, predicts that Freitag can perform at his best in Monte Carlo and can even jump 2.40 metres...three centimetres higher than his personal best and five centimetres higher than his winning height in Paris.

The South African 800m "twins", Mbulaeni Mulaudzi and Hezekiel Sepeng, are going to take part in their event, which could become one of the fastest 800m in a long time.

Mulaudzi came third in Paris. Only the gold medal will be good enough to confirm his status as the world's best 800m athlete. Sepeng deserves a medal in Monte Carlo.

Frantz Kruger will take part in the discus and Surita Febbraio in the 400m.

- Beeld