Jamaican legend Usain Bolt, American superstar Justin Gatlin – and South Africa’s own Anaso Jobodwana.
The Eastern Cape prospect, who has orbited the greats of world sprinting since the 2012 Olympics, last night touched down on planet podium as he powered to a share of third place in the 200m at the Bird’s Nest stadium in Beijing.
Inspired by teammate Wayde van Niekerk’s desperate finish in the 400m the previous night as well as other track greats, past and present, including Namibian Frank Fredericks – Jobodwana said he kept pushing to catch Panama’s Alonso Edward on the line to split the bronze medal.
Bolt claimed his fourth straight 200m world championship crown in 19.55sec with Gatlin second in 19.74.
Behind them, Jobodwana rocketed around in 19.87 to scupper Wayde van Niekerk’s 19.94 national record; two months ago no South African had broken 20 seconds in the 200m, now there are two.
A week ago South Africa hadn’t won a major sprint medal in 65 years; in two days they have bagged two.
“I was desperate,” said Jobodwana. “My coach told me ‘just run as desperate as Wayde looked in the 400m final’ ...
“I saw Alonso Edwards was in front of me a little bit and I just told myself ‘I can catch him, I can catch him’,” said Jobodwana, who raced Bolt in the finals and semifinals of the London Games and the 2013 world championships.
Before the race, Bolt offered him some words of encouragement.
“We spoke in the call room and he said, ‘are you ready for a 19?’ and I was like ‘yeah’ and he said ‘oh, you don’t sound too confident’ and I was like ‘no, no, no, I’m ready to run’.”
During their laps of honour afterwards – after Bolt had been accidentally knocked over by a cameraman on a Segway – the Jamaican and Jobodwana celebrated with a bear hug.
“When he saw me he was like ‘congrats, 19!’ ... Him talking to me also spurred me on,” said Jobodwana, who was congratulated by Gatlin in the interview area later with a light fist-bump to the shoulder and an earnest “good job, my man”.
Jobodwana said he was advised by Daley Thompson, Britain’s decathlon great, to watch videos of former top sprinters yesterday, and the one that stuck in his mind was Fredericks’s come-from-behind 200m triumph at the 1993 world championships.
Jobodwana also revealed he had tweaked his groin during his controversial false start in the 100m heats on Saturday night.
“I woke up the next morning and I just couldn’t move, I couldn’t stride, anything. Luckily we have a good physiotherapist,” said Jobodwana, who indicated he would still compete in the 4x100m relay tomorrow.
His bronze medal and the time came as a great relief for Jobodwana, who missed the 2014 season because of injury and endured some frustrating races this year in which he failed to break the 20-second barrier.
Ironically, in his season opener, he clocked 19.87, which was disqualified because of a strong tail wind.
“For a long time, running 20.0s and 20.20s, it didn’t feel like I was part of the elite group of sprinters of the world and now that’s just given me a huge confidence boost. I feel I belong with the other guys.
“I’m going to build on that momentum,” he said, stressing there was still more room for improvement.
“They’ve pinpointed a lot of areas I could be very good in,” said Jobodwana, who trains at the Altis centre in Phoenix, Arizona.
Jobodwana said his start had not been great last night.
“I was way behind everybody. I had expected to be at least close to the two outside guys when I got up, but they were way in front. I just told myself, ‘just run’.”
SA’s only other medal hope on the night, Khotso Mokoena, was eliminated halfway through the triple jump final.
Jobodwana jolts Beijing greats
The Eastern Cape prospect, who has orbited the greats of world sprinting since the 2012 Olympics, last night touched down on planet podium as he powered to a share of third place in the 200m at the Bird’s Nest stadium in Beijing.
Inspired by teammate Wayde van Niekerk’s desperate finish in the 400m the previous night as well as other track greats, past and present, including Namibian Frank Fredericks – Jobodwana said he kept pushing to catch Panama’s Alonso Edward on the line to split the bronze medal.
Bolt claimed his fourth straight 200m world championship crown in 19.55sec with Gatlin second in 19.74.
Behind them, Jobodwana rocketed around in 19.87 to scupper Wayde van Niekerk’s 19.94 national record; two months ago no South African had broken 20 seconds in the 200m, now there are two.
A week ago South Africa hadn’t won a major sprint medal in 65 years; in two days they have bagged two.
“I was desperate,” said Jobodwana. “My coach told me ‘just run as desperate as Wayde looked in the 400m final’ ...
“I saw Alonso Edwards was in front of me a little bit and I just told myself ‘I can catch him, I can catch him’,” said Jobodwana, who raced Bolt in the finals and semifinals of the London Games and the 2013 world championships.
Before the race, Bolt offered him some words of encouragement.
“We spoke in the call room and he said, ‘are you ready for a 19?’ and I was like ‘yeah’ and he said ‘oh, you don’t sound too confident’ and I was like ‘no, no, no, I’m ready to run’.”
During their laps of honour afterwards – after Bolt had been accidentally knocked over by a cameraman on a Segway – the Jamaican and Jobodwana celebrated with a bear hug.
“When he saw me he was like ‘congrats, 19!’ ... Him talking to me also spurred me on,” said Jobodwana, who was congratulated by Gatlin in the interview area later with a light fist-bump to the shoulder and an earnest “good job, my man”.
Jobodwana said he was advised by Daley Thompson, Britain’s decathlon great, to watch videos of former top sprinters yesterday, and the one that stuck in his mind was Fredericks’s come-from-behind 200m triumph at the 1993 world championships.
Jobodwana also revealed he had tweaked his groin during his controversial false start in the 100m heats on Saturday night.
“I woke up the next morning and I just couldn’t move, I couldn’t stride, anything. Luckily we have a good physiotherapist,” said Jobodwana, who indicated he would still compete in the 4x100m relay tomorrow.
His bronze medal and the time came as a great relief for Jobodwana, who missed the 2014 season because of injury and endured some frustrating races this year in which he failed to break the 20-second barrier.
Ironically, in his season opener, he clocked 19.87, which was disqualified because of a strong tail wind.
“For a long time, running 20.0s and 20.20s, it didn’t feel like I was part of the elite group of sprinters of the world and now that’s just given me a huge confidence boost. I feel I belong with the other guys.
“I’m going to build on that momentum,” he said, stressing there was still more room for improvement.
“They’ve pinpointed a lot of areas I could be very good in,” said Jobodwana, who trains at the Altis centre in Phoenix, Arizona.
Jobodwana said his start had not been great last night.
“I was way behind everybody. I had expected to be at least close to the two outside guys when I got up, but they were way in front. I just told myself, ‘just run’.”
SA’s only other medal hope on the night, Khotso Mokoena, was eliminated halfway through the triple jump final.
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