Akani Simbine’s experience and confidence, along with Team USA’s relay struggles, helped South Africa secure a historic silver medal in the 4x100m relay at the Paris Olympics.
Finally, after years of waiting Akani Simbine had a reason to smile since his hard work paid off at the Paris Olympic Games.
Akani Simbine anchored South Africa’s men’s 4x100m relay team to a silver medal, his first-ever medal since he made his Olympic debut at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.
This was a dream come true, not only for him but the whole of South Africa and he is privileged to have honoured one of the nation’s dreams.
One of the factors that led to their success was knowing that they could easily rule out the US following their poor runs when it came to the 4x100m relay.
In Olympic history, the US is one of the most unsuccessful nations and Akani Simbine was well aware of that. After the heats, he told the young team to ensure they maintained their composure and know that one of the powerhouses would most likely mess up.
It is like he had a prediction since when race day came, Team USA was disqualified for faulty baton exchanges and their results were nullified.
“After finishing our heat, I told the guys that we should watch the second heat and know where we stand. In the second heat, the US ran a crazy time and they had a loaded team and we were lying second in that,” Akani Simbine said in an interview with Team South Africa.
“I knew we had a shot because the US always mess it up, they have a history of messing up and that’s their trait and I knew we had a chance. We just had to go into the race and see what could come out.”
On race day, the athletes competing in the relay knew they had to put in the work but with the little experience of the young South African team, Akani Simbine was handed the baton a bit late.
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However, he did not let that chance slip and knew that if he focused on the main goal, he would beat the strong field and win a medal for his country. No way he was going to exit the champion empty-handed yet again.
“Everyone kept us in contact and I knew the guys I was running against, I could easily run them down. From us being fifth, I knew it wasn’t too much of a stretch for me to get to and burn down,” Akani Simbine said.
“I just knew that I had to get the baton and run and I did that and brought us the medal and brought it home. That was a really proud moment for the country.”
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Now, Akani Simbine wants to go for a medal at the World Championships in Tokyo, Japan. He faced a huge setback at the 2023 edition of the event in Budapest, Hungary where he was disqualified from the semifinal due to a false start.
In the 4x100m relay race, Team South Africa failed to finish the race. However, owing to their exploits at the Paris Olympic Games, Akani Simbine has the much-needed confidence to go for what he has missed all these years.
