By Stephen Granger
Elroy Gelant faces one of the biggest tests of his athletics career in Japan in three weeks’ time when he lines up at the start of the Olympic Marathon in Sapporo, 800km north of the Olympic City of Tokyo.
Gelant, one of the Southern Cape city of George’s best-ever athletes, represented South Africa with some distinction, at the Rio Olympics in 2016, qualifying for the final in the 5000m. Now re-fashioned as a marathon athlete, Gelant has seldom been fitter or stronger and the ‘Boy from George’ looks forward with anticipation to his date with destiny on the final day of the Games.
“I’m really looking forward to the Tokyo Olympics,” Gelant said. “I’m injury-free and healthy. For me, it is special to represent my country at the highest level of sport – the Olympics. As a boy, guys like Josiah Thugwane and Hezekiel Sepeng (who won gold and silver medals respectively) were my heroes. I said to myself that one day I also want to be like them.”
On Sunday 8 August Gelant will get that chance. It won’t be easy – over a hundred elite athletes are expected at the start of the last event of the thirty-second Olympiad – but Gelant is quietly confident.
“What made the Rio Olympics special was making the final. I was certainly not just going there to participate. I felt I needed to get a medal for my country and perhaps that might have been possible were it not for a slight groin injury I took into the final.
“That is still my motivation – to get a medal in Japan. I’m not just going to be a part of Team SA. My run will depend on how the body responds on the day. But I’m aiming to wake up on the morning of the race and feel that I could win a medal if everything goes well.”
Gelant used the Retail Capital Langa Marathon, run on the Killarney Race Circuit in Milnerton, to test-drive his marathon preparation and his ‘motor’ responded perfectly, with the Olympian winning at a canter in an impressive-enough 2 hrs 11 min 22 sec.
“I had some concerns before the race with regards my preparation for the Olympics, especially the final 10km of the race, where I had struggled at the Cape Town Marathon in 2019. So I put all those things in a basket to see where I could improve, and the output was seen at Killarney.
“In the Cape Town Marathon when I would like to have been able to accelerate to 3 minute per kilometre pace, I struggled to run at 3:25 per kilometre. At Killarney, I felt I could drop to 3 minutes per kilometre at any time. My aim was to run a long training run, feeling relaxed and that’s what I achieved. Perhaps it was a risk, running a marathon relatively late in my training, but it paid off.
If the training race went well for Gelant, so has his training regime since then from his current base in Potchefstroom, under the watchful eye of his coach for 16 years, Jean Verster. “Jean is primarily a track coach and we have had to make the transition to road in recent years,” Gelant continued. “That has not been easy and has required patience and endurance.”
Gelant eased up on his training for two weeks following Killarney, while working on his strength. He then ‘took off’ again with some solid sessions, including a recent 38km run where he was able to experiment with his nutrition – a vital aspect of his preparation.
“A danger in preparing for so big a race is to overdo the work, aiming for 110% and burning yourself out before the race day, instead of peaking at the right time,” Gelant reflected. “So we have been careful to get that perfect, along with race-specific training to acclimatise to the expected heat and humidity in Japan.”
For Gelant, that has entailed incorporating one “heater run” during the week, on his ‘Alter-G’ treadmill, where the temperature and humidity are turned up high.
“One can adjust the Alter-G to counteract gravity – so I’ve been ‘reducing’ my weight to 90% and doing some fast 2 min 45 sec kilometres to sharpen my speed.”
Gelant is realistic about his race in Japan.
“I know that the Kenyans and Ethiopians are good, but I’m going to focus on my own ability, my own race. At the Olympics anything can happen. We have a great team with Hendrick Ramaala as manager, who can assist so much with tactics and strategy from his experience. It’s great to be part of a team of three – I think it will feel a bit like being in a lion pack when I look to my right or left and see other green and gold vests alongside.”
Gelant will have strong support from his parents and family in George and also his Potchefstroom Athletics Club teammates and girlfriend Tamzin.
“They have been fantastic in supporting me in training. Tamzin has been with me on my long runs at every 5km, instead of sleeping in as she could have. I’m just so thankful for all the support and hope I can repay that with a good run in Japan.”
©SPNAfrica News
www.spnafricanews.com
