How is it that Cape Town stages the top sports events in the country, but when it comes to producing sports stars outside rugby, cricket and soccer they struggle?
From the Two Oceans Marathon and the Cycle Tour to the Formula E championship, the Mother City knows how to put on a show.
But they are a bit short on star power outside the big three codes. Since readmission the likes of swimmer Marianne Kriel, golfer Trevor Immelman and tennis player Raven Klaasen come to mind.
Does one include Sarah Poewe, who won her Olympic swimming medal for Germany? The Capetonians certainly can’t claim Wayde van Niekerk, who honed his world-beating skills in Bloemfontein after leaving the Western Cape capital at the age of 12.
And then you get the sporting spectacles, big and small. And sometimes the small are significant.
The Cape Milers Club Endurocad series at the Green Point Stadium may not be the city’s most well-attended event, but it’s popular for middle-distance and distance runners, even for those who live up-country.
On Monday night Ryan Mphahlele and Tshepo Tshite delivered the greatest 1,500m race on South African soil, with both of them eclipsing the home-run mark of 3 min 33.87 sec set by Johan Fourie in Stellenbosch in 1987.
Fourie was trackside as Mphahlele crossed the line in 3:32.90 and second-placed Tshite 3:33.02.
Only one SA athlete ever has been faster than the duo and that was Johan Cronje when he set the 3:31.93 SA record in Italy in 2013.
What they did on Monday was extraordinary.
Both of them qualified themselves for the world championships in Budapest in August (if they repeat those times after July 1 they will qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics).
What a pity ASA kept the series away from the coast this year because the Mphahlele-Tshite show should have been televised.
South Africa has done well in several athletics events over the years, especially the 800m where Hezekiel Sepeng and Mbulaeni Mulaudzi won Olympic silver and Caster Semenya dominated the women’s race.
But in the men’s 1,500m glory has been far more sparse.
Since readmission only two athletes have competed at the Olympics. Juan van Deventer was the standout at Beijing 2008, finishing sixth. Cronje went to Athens 2004, but misfortune kept him out of the next three Games.
Cronje, however, had more luck at the world championships, getting to four editions. When he made his debut at Helsinki 2005, he was only the second South African 1,500m competitor, after Johan Landsman at Stuttgart 1993.
When Cronje returned to Berlin 2009, he was accompanied by Peter van der Westhuizen but was on his own again at Moscow 2013, where he won the bronze medal.
Cronje had company again at Beijing in 2015 in the form of Dumisane Hlaselo.
Mphahlele was on his own at the 2022 world championships in Eugene, Oregon.
In 29 years South Africa has had just six international-level 1,500m runners.
So it’s a big thing that now there are two ace runners, both capable of making the final if everything goes their way.
The performances of Mphahlele and Tshite on Monday are probably the highlights of the local athletics season to date — and they were predictable.
Last year they also ran personal bests at Green Point, though that was under the banner of the Athletics SA (ASA) grand prix series.
This year ASA is staging its three-leg series up-country, which is not a great venue for distance runners.
Sprinters do well at altitude. The fastest men’s 100m at the coast in this country is 10.06 run by Akani Simbine, and it’s 30th on the ranking of fastest times by South Africans in South Africa.
The longest event scheduled for the second leg of the Athletics SA (ASA) grand prix series at Germiston today (Wednesday) is the 800m.
What a pity ASA kept the series away from the coast this year because the Mphahlele-Tshite show should have been televised.
ASA missed a trick here. Luckily Cape Town didn’t.
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