Where are they now: 1500m king Johan Fourie

In 1987, South African athletics was rocked by the news that Johan Fourie, its greatest star, had moved to Swaziland in a bid to compete internationally.

The sports boycott against South Africa undoubtedly hastened the advent of democracy in 1994, but one cannot fail to sympathise with the sportsmen who, like Fourie, were denied the opportunity to compete against the world's best in their prime.

Fourie's attempt to break into international competition was unsuccessful and, sadly, before returning to compete again in SA in 1989, the coxsackie virus left him a shadow of his former self. His first taste of international competition finally came at the Unity Games in 1992.

At the opening Dakar leg of the Games, the after-effects of the virus prevented him from making any impression.

But in the 1500m in Germiston, lifted by the presence of the home crowd and displaying his characteristic passion and pride, he took the lead at the bell into a setting sun.

However, the virus and the passing years took their toll in the final 400m as he faded to seventh, beaten by younger men from Kenya and Ethiopia.

Fourie never recaptured the form that made him the most exciting SA athlete during the heady days of the 1980s, when he was the main attraction at any local athletics meeting and his participation was guaranteed to attract thousands.

Now an Alexander Forbes branch manager in Stellenbosch, Fourie has put the pain and disappointment caused by his exclusion from international competition behind him.

He believes that at the time, despite the failure of the Swaziland episode, he desperately needed to do something positive to compete overseas.

Fourie, 50, says with undisguised emotion: "I would not trade an Olympic gold medal for the pure joy I experienced competing before a local audience at a packed Coetzenburg stadium."

He coaches about 50 youngsters in Stellenbosch with his wife of over 20 years, Mirinda (nee Hogendoorn), a former national-class 400m athlete. The couple have two children, Rico, 21, and Sharné, 11.

Fourie recalls that 1987 was an intensely frustrating year. In the months leading up to the world athletics championships in Rome, he had run his mile and 1500m personal bests. His 1500m time of 3:33.87, set at the SA championships at Coetzenburg, was the world's fastest time over the distance before the world championships in Rome.

Somalia's Abdi Bile's win at the championships in an unexceptional 3:36.80 suggested Fourie would have been competitive.

Four months of training in the European summer of 1985 with Swiss star Pierre Délèze also gave a clear indication of Fourie's world-beating potential.

In the period leading up to Délèze's defeat of Sebastian Coe over 1500m in Zurich, Fourie recalls he was more than matching Délèze in training.

Délèze was convinced Fourie was capable of running under 3:30 for the distance. This would have placed him with all-time greats Coe, Steve Ovett, Said Aouita, Steve Cram and Sydney Maree in the middle-distance pantheon.

Ironically, as much as his inability to compete overseas robbed Fourie of the opportunity to test himself against his greatest contemporaries, his efforts to keep himself motivated in 1980s South Africa made compelling viewing: he ran 53 sub-four-minute miles, his winning streak of 134 consecutive 1500m is the longest in the history of the event and once he ran two sub-four-minute miles in a single meeting.

Always a man to look for new challenges, Fourie moved up to the 3000m in 1983 to challenge the athlete he feared most - Matthews Temane. On a head-to-head count, Fourie went on to just shade this most versatile of SA athletes, four victories to three over the distance.

Fourie sees a lot of himself in current 1500m star Juan van Deventer and is convinced Van Deventer can run under 3:30 for the 1500m. Fourie believes that, like him, Van Deventer lacks outstanding natural ability, but he has the advantage of big-competition temperament.

"Mental toughness is more important than talent if you have to run heats and compete with the likes of the Kenyans."

Van Deventer competes at the world indoor championships this weekend and at the SA track championships in Durban next weekend, and has set his sights on an Olympic gold in 2012.

It's a strategy of which Fourie approves: "To motivate yourself as an athlete you must have goals that excite you."