South African sprinter Akani Simbine (© Getty Images)
South African sprinter Akani Simbine is hungry for several things.
One of them is ‘braai’, his favorite dish and a key part of South African culture. Cooking a spiced roast with sides over an open fire is one thing that consistently brings South Africans together.
More than food, however, he is hungry for a medal, and he will have another chance to make South Africa shine if he qualifies for the Olympics at the World Athletics Relays Bahamas 24 in Nassau on 4-5 May.
He’s had several close calls, but a global medal eludes him. He just missed winning an Olympic medal in Tokyo when he finished fourth in the 100m in 9.93. In 2016, he came in fifth in the 100m at the Olympics in Rio, and he has also placed fourth and fifth at the World Athletics Championships.
Simbine specialises in the 100m and 200m, and this May he will join his compatriots in the 4x100m in The Bahamas. “I want South Africa to win,” he says. “We’ve had the worst luck when it comes to relays. We either don’t make the zone or drop it. It’s been very frustrating.”
The World Athletics Relays Bahamas 24 competition this May will be his first time visiting The Bahamas, but will his busy schedule allow any beach time?
Simbine knows Bahamian sprinting legends Shaunae Miller-Uibo and Steven Gardiner quite well as they see each other often on the circuit.
“Shaunae speaks highly of The Bahamas and the beach looks amazing, so I hope I get to see it,” he says.
The road to paradise
As a child, Simbine was always very athletic, splitting his time between football, cricket and rugby. He originally dreamed of becoming a football player, but this changed at the age of 18 when he began running and broke some records.
He acquired his athletic talent from his mother, but Simbine was the only one in his family who took it to the professional level. His daily routine involves going to bed at around 10pm, and nutrition is also important to him. “Eating home-cooked meals so that my body is 100%... I need to make sure that I’m a lean running machine,” he says.
His competition schedule keeps him on the road quite a bit, and Jamaica, London and Zurich have been his favourite places to compete so far. In his downtime, he enjoys playing golf, watching movies and listening to a lot of old-school hip-hop and ‘Amapiano’, a new-age music genre specific to South Africa.
Running on sunshine
Simbine's career highlight was breaking the South African 100m record with 9.84 in July 2021. “Our country had never had a sprinter make the finals and rank among the top in the world. Being able to do that and inspire the next generation has been really rewarding,” he says.
Conversely, his biggest challenge was a false start at the World Championships in Budapest last year. Nevertheless, he emphasises the importance of staying positive and persevering.
“It was terrible for me and the team,” he says. “Something I don’t usually do. It was an unusual feeling and hard to keep positive. I had to coach myself: ‘I’m going to Paris! I’m going to be on the podium!’ If you’re going to continue in this sport, you must pick yourself up from these hits. You can train all you want, but if your headspace isn’t there, you’re not going make it.”
At the end of the day, Simbine is all action and inspiration. In a recent article, he proclaimed that he wanted to be the fastest man in the world: “I think this is the year that I’ll take home a medal. I’ve been to all finals since 2016. Everything is aligning.”
His advice to up-and-coming athletes chasing their Olympic dreams is to never give up. “Keep pushing and training. Don’t give up on that dream,” he says. “You’ve been given a talent, but that alone won’t get you there. You need to put the work in to achieve that dream.”
