Athens - Olympic 800m silver medallist Mbulaeni Mulaudzi was on Sunday still basking in the glory of his medal. His silver was a massive triumph for the unassuming 24-year-old who paid tribute to his coach Ian Harries afterwards.
The athlete was referring to the manner in which Harries pulled him out of a slump and turned his form around in only two weeks to race so well, he came close to winning the gold medal.
"One thing's for sure," said Mulaudzi. "After this, no one can call me a coward."
He then gave his silver medal, emblazoned with stunning artwork on the front and a legend in ancient Greek on the back that reads: "The Spirit of Olympia" to his coach to show the other SA coaches at a celebration party.
Hezekiel Sepeng, who ran sixth, was full of praise for Mulaudzi who added to SA's medal tally of one gold by the swimming relay team, silver and bronze by Roland Schoeman and the rowing bronze by Donavon Cech and Ramon di Clemnte.
"Immediately after Zurich Mulaudzi wanted to go home," said Sepeng. "I said to him 'don't be a coward.
'Don't lose one race and give up.
'You don't want to sit at home and watch this on TV'.
"He might not be in the same shape as me and the other guys physically, but he runs with his head.
"Man, that guy is mentally very strong."
Mulaudzi came so close to gold.
He lost his footing in the dash with Kipketer as he put in a gut-wrenching sprint for gold on the inside that gave Russia's Yuriy Borzakovskiy a clear path for the win on the outside in 1:44.45.
Sepeng, the silver-medal Olympic winner in Atlanta 1996, simply didn't have the legs to challenge at the end and he trailed favourite Wilfred Bungei of Kenya for sixth in 1:45,53.
The Mulaudzi-Harries relationship is filled with emotion and heralds a fairytale Olympic ending.
They split earlier this year - an event that left Harries gutted.
Then Mulaudzi, who won the world 800m indoor title in March, requested that they re-unite and Harries accepted and they went through a period of reconciliation, during which time Mulaudzi was overcoming an injury.
Then he got flu two weeks before departure to Athens.
Their arduous journey culminated in jubilation when the largely-built Harries bellowed like a buffalo bull in the stands as Mulaudzi crossed the line.
Roland Schoeman, the gold, silver and bronze Medal winner, was sitting in the row behind him and asked: "Are you the coach by any chance?"
"Oh, you bet!" yelled Harriers.
"Good on you, my man," said Schoeman, giving him a high-five.
Afterwards, Harries tracked Mulaudzi down in the warm-up area.
That's when the athlete told his coach: "You're not a coach," he said.
"You're a magician."
