Anaso Jobodwane takes on Usain Bolt tonight: but he nearly missed out on London

Right on track: Jobodwane and Bolt last night

ANASO JOBODWANE finds himself listed among the eight fastest men on the planet over 200m tonight at 21.55 South African time – but he very nearly missed out on the London Olympics altogether.

The 20-year-old from King William’s Town heralded a revolution in South African sprinting last night when he chased double-100m gold medallist Usain Bolt to the line in the 200m semi-final, the only man to give the giant Jamaican a run for his money.
Afterwards he said: "I wasn't thinking about how tough it was racing against Bolt, I just wanted to run my own race. I ran the bend well, I'll have to look at the tape to see how I did. I was gunning for a semi-final, it's a bonus now. It was amazing to be on the tail of Usain Bolt. Beat him in the final? Hahaha! Next few years!"

Few expected that swift feat from Jobodwane after he spent most of 2011 out with injury – and was named as a “late addition” to Team South Africa after meeting SASCOC’s stuper-stringent qualifying standards just two weeks before the deadline.

Nobody doubts the “Ambitious Jay” pedigree. Two years ago, as a student at Selborne College, Jobodwane won the South African schools 200m in a record 20.95secs.

Then he became an All-American track and field champion with an indoor time of 20.66secs.  That was followed by an outdoor time of 20.32 in March while studying biology at Jackson State University in Mississippi – well within the Olympic “A” qualifying time of 20.55.

While that would have been enough for most national Olympic selection panels, SASOC requires TWO of those “A” qualifying times, a dubious policy which saw Africa 100m champion Simon Magakwe fail to make the team for London despite equalling the South Africa record of 10.07secs and running under 10 seconds in training.

With that sort of snub in mind, Jobodwane left his studies in the USA to focus on qualifying for London 2012 – which he finally did with a time of 20.50 to take victory at the obscure 17th Miner’s Day International Athletics Meeting in the remote Slovenian town of Velenje.

On July 4, he was one of the 14 athletes added to South Africa’s original team of125 named on June 6. But with no sprint medal won by South Africa since 1910, when Durban’s Reggie Walker became the world’s youngest Olympic 100m champion in London, few thought Jobodwane would emerge as a finalist.

Before last night’s personal best of 20.27, Jobodwana's best time of 20.32 seconds ranked him 22nd in the world this year. Afterwards, he added: “I don’t want to put too much pressure on myself. I didn't expect it... I was just going out there to run a personal best. So I got that and I got to the final - a bonus.”

Having just turned 20, Jobodwane has a lot in common with Chad le Clos, the man who won gold and silver in the pool for South Africa last week. Like Chad, Anaso said before London he would be happy to use 2012 as preparation for Rio in 2016. And like Le Clos, he finds himself up against a legend.

But where Le Clos – who arrived back in Johannesburg this morning to a hero’s welcome - edged out Michael Phelps in the 100m butterfly final by 0.05 of a second, Jobodwane surely has no chance of pipping the lightning Bolt to the line – or his Jamaican team-mate Yohan Blake.

After Bridgette Hartley’s bronze – South Africa’s fifth medal – in the K1 500 at Dorney this morning, Jobodwane would do well to finish in the top five (he'd have to run under 20 seconds for the first time in his life to get close to a medal) while Sunette Viljoen, second in qualifying, goes for gold in the javelin tonight and Caster Semenya runs in the 800m semi-finals at 8.30pm.

Still, like Le Clos, Jobodwane appears to have a father who is a bit of a character. Mkhuseli Jobodwana, director of remand administration at the Department of Correctional Services head office in Pretoria, told The New Age: “I am very excited. Do you even need to ask what we’ll do for my boy when he gets back?

“We are going to have a huge traditional celebration at our village in Khwetyana in the Eastern Cape because he didn’t only make us proud, but the entire village and country.

“We will slaughter two or more fat cows as one will not be enough.”

DON'T PANIC: Bobby's message to the AmaKhosi as the PSL kick-off looms

Sorry performance: Itumeleng Khune apologised to AmaKhosi

THE BIG PSL kick-off looms, and nowhere will pre-season nerves be jangling more than in the big, shiny dressing room for the away team at the fabulous Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban.

That’s where Kaizer Chiefs and their bruised egos will be sat, their pre-match preparation dominated by memories of last Sunday at a packed Loftus Versfeld, where Mamelodi Sundowns – four goals to the good after just 37 minutes - crushed the mighty AmaKhosi 4-1 in the most one-sided of the MTN8 quarter-finals last weekend.

With DON’T PANIC signs plastered on every furrowed forehead, who will be most worried? Stuart Baxter, the new coach, who is under pressure before the league has even started? Captain Itumeleng Khune, whose amazing on-field rant featured so prominently on our television screens? Zimbabwean defender Lincoln Zvasiya, so clearly out of his depth at right-back last Sunday?

Nope. I reckon it’s Bobby Motaung who will be on the verge of a nervous breakdown come 6pm on Saturday. The son of club founder Kaizer, general manager Bobby has grown up with black-and-gold teddy bears, Chiefs replica shirts and AmaKhosi adulation all his life.

Now, the man who said just last season he would never need to worry about his future employment with “the family business” finds the side he assembled for Baxter is being roundly lambasted by football pundits, rivals – and even the estimated 15 million AmaKhosi.

On Monday, as the shock waves of that Sundowns defeat were still reverberating around the nation, Bobby told SuperSport: "It’s understandable our army of supporters are feeling some pain. Losing is one thing. But conceding four goals in little more than the opening 30 minutes is something else.

“It was hard to believe - we thought we had all the bases covered. But we're all only human and capable of having an off-day. I don't think there is any cause to panic.

"But remember, we would have beaten Orlando Pirates the week before had we not conceded a careless injury-time goal. I believe the hiccups will be eliminated.”

Hiccups? With a back-four now featuring newly-signed international defenders Sibonso Gaxa, Tower Mathoho and Morgan Gould, Khune was forced to deliver a grovelling apology to fans on the official Kaizer Chiefs website which included the immortal line: “The players are as humiliated as the fans by this result.”

And of course, the smooth-talking, CV-massaging Englishman Baxter issued the standard: “The players will bounce back. I know it is a big task, but they will.”

Beset by some nasty pre-season injuries – talismanic Siphiwe Tshabalala was forced to watch last week’s debacle from the packed stands – neither Baxter, Bobby nor Khune have explained exactly how they plan to turn things around with re-signed Siyabonga Nkosi looking erm... resigned to allowing Teko Modise to walk all over him last week.

Still, it’s only AmaZulu. They were crushed 2-0 by Moroka Swallows in the MTN8 and offer Chiefs the perfect chance for immediate redemption.

At Chloorkop, the issues are reversed. Sundowns now have a problem keeping great expectations in check as they prepare to play newly-promoted Chippa United in Atteridgeville.

But their boss Johan Neeskens is happy to put everything on the line, insisting: "I always put myself under pressure, I want to win something this year, if not, if I don't win anything or do well maybe I must step down because I think it is time that we win something."

Now there’s a man who puts his future where his mouth is. With double-treble winners Orlando Pirates looking formidable and Wits signing a host of top names, we’re in for a fascinating championship.

My predictions for week one of the PSL:

Friday (8pm):

Orlando Stadium: Orlando Pirates 3, Golden Arrows 1

Cape Town Stadium: Ajax Cape Town 1, SuperSport United 1

Saturday (3pm):

Peter Mokabe Stadium: Black Leopards 0, Bloemfontein Celtic 0

Goble Park: Free State Stars 0, Bidvest Wits 2

Moses Mabhida Stadium (6pm):  AmaZulu 0, Kaizer Chiefs 1

Lucas Moripe Stadium: (8.15pm): Mamelodi Sundowns 3, Chippa United     0

Sunday (3pm):

Tuks Stadium: AmaTuks 1, Maritzburg Utd 1

Royal Bafokeng Palace: Platinum Stars 0, Moroka Swallows 1

Stuart Baxter: the honest truth about Kaizer Chiefs and their coach

Your number's up: Kaizer Chiefs trio Baxter, Nkosi and Jessica Motaung

IT'S one thing to be 4-0 down after 37 minutes of your opening competitive game of the season. It's quite another to be a Kaizer Chiefs fan and hear that your coach, Stuart Baxter, has been economical with the truth.

When I spoke to Joe Mann on Metro FM's popular Sports Centre (now known as 083 Sports@6) last night, I was asked for my views on the opening weekend of MTN8 action and I dropped the bombshell: "Stuart Baxter lied about his CV, and I never thought he was a good choice to coach a big club like Kaizer Chiefs."

Of course, I didn't just talk about Chiefs. I pointed out how well Mamelodi Sundowns had played in their emphatic 4-1 thumping of the AmaKhosi at a packed Loftus Versfeld. How the oft-lamented Teko Modise had pulled all the strings - and how good debutant striker Edward Manqele looked.

Oh, I also questioned the penalties given and not given in Orlando Pirates squeaky 1-0 win over Bloemfontein Celtic, the efficiency of SuperSport United in their 2-1 win over Free State Stars and praised Moroka Swallows for producing the one result I predicted wrong - an emphatic 2-0 win over AmaZulu despite the recent departure of Gordon Igesund to Bafana Bafana.

But it was my critique of Chiefs which attracted the most responses, some of it abusive, on the social networking sites. It was a bit of a shock. I made my first appearance with Robert Marawa on Metro during the 2010 World Cup and have been chatting away with the great man regularly since, on television and radio.

So, am I, as some would have it an "air head" who, as another suggests "knows nothing about football"? Do I hate Kaizer Chiefs? Do I have a hidden agenda? Of course not. I am, as I told Joe on Monday night, a lifelong football player who played over 3,000 games, a coach, a referee, a lover of the game, particularly in South Africa where so many of my ilk deride "local football" as rubbish.

I never reached great heights as a player, though you will see pictures of me winning the FA Over 35s Christian World Cup on my Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/nealivorcollins/photos in 2010, aged 49.

As a youngster I was coached by England manager Roy Hodgson who told me I would never make it as a player, I was picked for Northern Transvaal schoolboys and South African Universities and trained with Umlazi Bush Bucks as young journalist in Durban. I was never good enough to make Clive Barker's first team, not with the title-winning side he and Lawrence "Big Bear" Ngubane had put together.

Then, as a conscientious objector and political exile, I spent 1985-2010 in England, playing two or three games a week in the local leagues as I learned my trade on the Mirror, Daily Mail and Sky TV.

I returned to South Africa for the England cricket tour and World Cup in 2010, fell in love with the place and a local lawyer - all over again and stayed to look after my doddery dad in Centurion.

I have no bias against Kaizer Chiefs or Orlando Pirates. Just huge admiration for the two giants of South African football. But if I see something wrong, something dodgy, I'll raise the issue. Unlike so many in the media here, I have no in-built fear of Irvin Khoza or Kaizer Motaung - or his son Bobby. 

In the UK, I have been told to "f*** off" late at night by Sir Alex Ferguson and was once confronted by a mob of angry Birmingham fans in North London. I have seen Millwall late at night, been to European games where riots have broken out. After those incidents, and many like it, you tend to do your job regardless of the insults. As long as you stick to what you believe to be the truth.

I tell it like I see it. And that's what I continue to do, though it has lost me many friends over the past two years in South African sports journalism.

When Baxter arrived, I wrote stories like these, some of which were re-published in local newspapers and websites.

http://www.neal-collins.blogspot.com/2012/05/komphela-matthaus-gullit-no-new-kaizer.html

http://www.sportscentral.co.za/is-stuart-baxter-the-man-the-amakhosi-need/17975/

But if it's the truth about Stuart Baxter you want, it's to be found here:

http://www.iol.co.za/sport/soccer/psl/baxter-loose-with-the-truth-1.1294320#.UCENP_Ygdcg

Written by the Johannesburg Star's Jonty Mark on May 11, I've given you the full story below. Robert Marawa had Bobby Mataung in the next day to discuss Baxter's lies. He couldn't - or wouldn't - explain the anomalies. Baxter has never explained the holes in his CV. And this is the man put in charge of South Africa's biggest club. So now it's your choice. Read what is written below. You decide if I was right or not. 

Embellishing your CV is hardly a new trait, but Stuart Baxter really ought to be a little more careful.

The new Kaizer Chiefs coach, in an interview with The Star on Thursday, did his best to make his time in between coaching Bafana Bafana and the Amakhosi look, shall we say, as effervescent as possible.

Baxter resigned from the Bafana job in November 2005, after failing to qualify the team for the 2006 Fifa World Cup. His return to South Africa and the Amakhosi came as a surprise to many, when it was confirmed last week.

Whatever Baxter said in meeting with Chiefs president Kaizer Motaung persuaded the Amakhosi chairman that the 58-year-old Englishman was the right man for the job.

Yet one hopes Baxter was not as generous with the facts as he was on Thursday. The Chiefs coach’s first strange claim was that upon leaving Bafana he “went to Japan for one year and won the title”.

Closer inspection reveals that in 2006, Baxter’s Vissel Kobe finished third in the Japanese second division, winning promotion to the top-flight through a play-off.

That’s a “title”?

Baxter then went off to Helsingborgs in Sweden, a country where he lifted the Allsvenskan title in 1998 with AIK Stockholm.

“When I went to Helsingborgs they were third bottom and we finished third.

“We also got to the last 16 of the Europa League,” said Baxter on Thursday.

Another swift check of the facts, however, and Helsingborgs actually finished fourth in the 2008 Allsvenskan, and reached only the last 32 of the 2007/8 Europa League (the Kaizer Chiefs statement on Baxter’s appointment this week also states that he reached the last 16).

These exaggerations extend to Baxter’s time with the Finnish national team, who he joined in 2008.

The Chiefs coach correctly noted that Finland had drawn twice with Germany in a decent World Cup 2010 qualifying campaign.

But the truth was once again loose as he went into their failed Euro 2012 qualification.

According to Baxter, Finland “got beaten 2-1 by Holland, lost to Moldova when we had Sami Hyppia sent off five minutes, in, and came back and drew with Hungary.

“It was very difficult to qualify. I said to the Finnish FA that I wanted to get back into club football, and spend more time with my daughter.” (Baxter’s daughter fell very ill when he was in Japan, one of the main reasons he went back to Scandinavia).

Well, Finland did lose 2-1 to Holland and did have Hyppia sent off in a 2-0 loss to Moldova (in the 36th minute, not the fifth), but they also lost 2-1 to Hungary.

It is difficult to believe how anyone could make this succession of mistakes accidentally, and has to cast Baxter in a slightly dappled light even before he has started his work with Chiefs.

No wonder, if he believes his own story, that the Chiefs coach says: “I don’t think I have to prove anything to anybody. I must just make sure the players enjoy training and the supporters enjoy what they are watching.” – The Star

A buzzing capital city, a sold-out stadium, a rousing triumph: Usain Bolt is not alone

Fastest man on the planet: Usain Bolt on Sunday night

What a showdown: a sold-out stadium in the capital with support split evenly between the two big guns of their sporting sphere. The long-awaited clash of the titans. And almost from the start, just one dominating force; unstoppable, devastating. In the end it was a no-contest, a crushing victory which will live in the sporting memory for years to come.

But perhaps we should leave Kaizer Chiefs to lick their wounds rather then re-live the events of Loftus Versfeld on Sunday, where big-spending Mamelodi Sundowns cruised to an emphatic 4-1 win over the mighty Amakhosi.

With Thamsanqa Sangweni, Tebogo Langerman, Lebohang Mokoena and the impressive Edward Manqele all scoring before the 37^thminute, many were considering calling in the army to protect the senseless slaughter of the hapless Zebras.

Yes, the season-opening MTN8 quarter-final – which also produced wins for Orlando Pirates, Moroka Swallows and SuperSport United – was quite something.

As I predicted last week, Sundowns’ Dutch coach Johan Neeskens left new Chiefs boss Stuart Baxter clutching at straws like this: “If we could have kept it in reach when we came in at half-time, we could have turned a few things around and maybe would have had a chance in the second-half.

"This result tells you that we have a lot of work to do. We'll lick our wounds, we'll sharpen our knives again and we'll get back to the job. It's certainly not going to be a pleasant evening."

In fact, for most sports lovers, it was a very pleasant evening as we went on to that other clash of the titans in another capital – London, which is in the midst of a ridiculously entertaining 30^thsummer Olympics.

In the sparkling new stadium in run-down Stratford, South Africans were riveted by the men’s 100m final which saw the showman Usain Bolt justify his arrogant pre-race antics with a sensational victory over fellow Jamaican Yohan Blake. To have confidence like that, the bloke has to be running world records at every training session, despite his recent injury problems.

Whilst proving lightning Bolts CAN strike twice, Bolt’s first-ever successful defence of the defining event of the modern Olympiad saw a record SEVEN men break the 10 second barrier.

Bolt’s time of 9.63secs was a new Olympic record but just a stride short of his world record 9.58. That wasn’t the point: "I’m one step closer to become a legend,” he said, “This means a lot, because some people were doubting. A lot of people were saying I wasn't going to win, I didn't look good. There was a lot of talk.

"It's an even greater feeling to come out here and defend my title and show the world I'm still No. 1. So I'm happy with myself."

Bolt isn’t entirely content though. Here’s what he said about the security in London: “I was in the line, we were waiting to run and the guy was telling me to line up straight. I was like, ‘Really? We’re about to run and they are going to make me stand in a straight line?’ There are just some weird rules here.

“Then they saw my skipping rope. They said I can’t bring it in, and I asked, ‘Why?” They just said, ‘It is the rules.’ So if I have a rubber band that I need to stretch, I can’t take it in. And when I asked why, they say, ‘It’s just the rules.’ It’s just some weird small rules that don’t make any sense to me, personally.”

And so ended another weekend of frantic Olympic gold mining. South Africa’s Oscar Pistorius made history by becoming the first amputee to compete in the Olympics, Kenya did the traditional thing in the 3,000m steeple-chase, Great Britain’s Andy Murray crushed Roger Federer to win gold at Wimbledon, the drunken fan who threw a bottle at the 100m starters was soundly thumped by Dutch judoka bronze medallist Edith Bosch, who tweeted: “Een dronken gast voor mij gooit een flesje op de baan!! IK HEB HEM GESLAGEN. Ongelofelijk!!”

Most South Africans will understand that to mean: “One drunken guest in front of me threw a bottle on the track. I WHACKED HIM! Unbelievable.”

And after translation, a little lesson in spelling. Note the difference between the following two sentences: South Africa has won gold. Australia has one gold.

In fact, South Africa has a record-equalling three golds and one silver so far. And we still have Richard Murray (triathlon, today), Sunette Viljoen (javelin, Thursday), Bridgitte Hartley (women’s K1 500, Thursday), Siphiso “Skizo” Nhlapo (BMX, Friday), Caster Semenya (800m, Saturday) and Bury Stander (mountain biking, Sunday) to come.

Yes, Team South Africa have pleny to look forward to. And I offer the estimated 15 million devastated Amakhosi this: “Khosi 4-1 life!”

Baltimore Bullet v Durban Dynamo: how Chad le Clos and Michael Phelps will cause butterflies around the world tonight

Golden Touch: Le Clos and Phelps after Tuesday night

A WEEK ago, the very suggestion that South Africa would grind to a halt on a Friday night to watch two men butterflying twice up and down a swimming pool would have been laughed out of Soccer City.

Then along came Chad le Clos and his dad Bert.

When the Baltimore Bullet takes on the Durban Dynamo at London’s sparkling new Aquatics Arena tonight at 8.38pm in a rematch dubbed The Man With The Golden Touch II, the Rainbow Nation will stop to see if Kwaaaaa-Zulu’s 20-year-old can edge out the 28-year-old superstar once more.

I’ll be at the Parlotones “This Is My Story” concert at Monte Casino when the 100m butterfly final gets underway. I have just sent them a polite request to stop the music and put South Africa’s fourth medal of London 2012 live on the big screens during the concert.

Will they PUSH ME TO THE FLOOR? I think not. That would be a GIGANTIC MISTAKE. Bert will be saying BABY BE MINE.

On Tuesday night the Parlotones did exactly that at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, as ex-pat South Africans gathered to hear their favourite band – and paused briefly to see Le Clos produce a remarkable last-gasp win over the world’s greatest Olympian.

Tonight they’re at it again, this time over two lengths rather than four. And my, how international perceptions have changed since the 200m butterfly final. Phelps has gone on to break the Olympic records of most medals won and most golds garnered.

And with a little help from his dad, Chad has become a global brand. When he beat Phelps to the final touch in the 200m, the commentators were harping on about the great man’s “rookie mistake” and “controversial defeat”.

At the 100m semi-finals last night, with the two golden heroes in separate races, the commentators whispered: “I wonder if Phelps will hear the foot-steps of Le Clos in the final stretch tomorrow night,” and they lauded the performance of South Africa’s swimmers, pointing out that, like France, the men from the tip of the dark continent had altered swimming’s balance of power for good.

And of course, everyone was asking: Where’s Bert. That’s Chad’s dad, the bearded beauty whose post-gold chat with the BBC’s Clare Balding has become he talking point of the games. Bert hailed his son as “beautiful” four times, he used the word “unbelievable” six times and generally restored the world’s faith in father-son relationships.

Bert will be there tonight. The cameras will no doubt capture his antics in the stands as Chad goes for a second win and a record fourth gold for South Africa – with the athletics events barely underway in Stratford.

Phelps, who has seen off a tiring Ryan Lochte as the male star in a world-record studded week of action in the pool, has been highly complimentary of Le Clos since his uncharacteristic defeat on Tuesday, tweeting: “What a performance from the South African. I’ve got to know him over the past year at a few photo shoots, he’s a hard-working, talented lad.”

And Le Clos has told us about his hero-worshipping of Phelps, whom he first saw winning at Athens, aged 12: “You have no idea what this means to me. Beating my idol. I can’t believe it.” After last night's semi, he said: "It's brilliant to be racing Phelps again, but I've already shaved half a second off my best time, I don't know if I can do any more."

Strangely, while Le Clos was forced to pull out of the 200m individual medley final to focus on the 100m butterfly and Lochte has over-stretched himself on all fronts, Phelps manages to look stronger as the week goes on.

With 20 medals behind him, Phelps goes in to tonight’s race slightly quicker than Le Clos. In the 200m butterfly on Tuesday, he started the final with a slightly slower qualifying time. I think Phelps has a tiny edge going in to tonight’s 100m final… but that’s what the bookmakers thought last time.

Tonight is about revenge for Phelps. Or another sensational upset from Le Clos. Either way, swimming and London 2012 will win.

And whatever happens, South Africa will have their fourth medal.

And then, of course, we’re in to the athletics. Flag-bearer Caster Semenya in the 800m, Sunette Viljoen’s world-beating javelin, long-jumper Khotso Mokoena looking to repeat South Africa’s only medal (silver) in Beijing and, South Africa’s best shot, the 4x400m relay where Oscar Pistorius, the legless Bladerunner, may run a lap.

And don’t foget Richard Murray in the triathlon on Tuesday, Siphiso Nhlapo on BMX next Friday and Burry Stander in the mountain biking on Sunday, the last day of the Olympics.

Successful Olympic teams tend to feed off each other’s success. Why should South Africa not do the same and take us to the SASCOC promised land of a record 12 medals?

South Africa's Oarsome Foursome: all you need to know about gold medal number three

Blazing paddles: Ndlovu celebrates gold

South Africa’s lightweight rowing four showed their golden touch in the water yesterday as they clinched a record-equalling THIRD Olympic title at London 2012.

In a dramatic last-gasp victory which pushes Team South Africa up to an unprecedented eighth in the medals table, Sizwe Ndlovu, Matthew Brittain, John Smith and James Thompson left the commentators spluttering with a sensational finishing burst to match team-mate Chad Le Clos’s golden 200m butterfly win over Olympic great Michael Phelps on Tuesday evening in the pool.

Former Pretoria policeman Ndlovu, 32, said afterwards: "This is so exciting, amazing...I took rowing up at school in 1997, and now I'm standing here. My brothers and sisters are supporting me back home.

"We stuck to our game plan. We knew Denmark would start strongly, and we had one call - to go for it in the last 500m. It worked.

"Rowing is big in schools but otherwise financially it's an expensive sport, this gold will be good for South Africa's rowing community and help give it a better image."

While the international feed warned us about Australia closing on the highly-fancied Denmark in the closing 200m, it was in fact the other side in gold and green who were sniffing a late surge to gold. South Africa were third at halfway and fourth at 1,500m but it was over the fateful last 500m that the oarsome foursome produced the blazing paddles.

Coached at Pretoria University’s High Performance Centre which also produced South Africa’s first gold medallist of London 2012 Cameron van der Burgh, they left first Australia, then the not-so-great Danes and hosts Great Britain in their wake.

As the lakeside erupted, South Africa finished in 6min 02.84secs, just 0.25secs ahead of Britain with Denmark taking bronze a further 0.07 seconds behind.

All the talk will now be of Ndlovu, also known as Lawrence, who became the first black African medallist in an boat Olympic boat. The oldest member of the crew at 32, he’s a former police reservist who worked, appropriately, for the Pretoria flying squad.

Born in Johannesburg, Ndlovu grew up in Newcastle, Natal but went to Mondeor High School south of Johannesburg, where he was introduced to rowing by the late headmaster Tom Price. He recalls: “Tom was actually the one who saw the potential in me and encouraged me to row. He used to pick me up in the mornings at 5am, make me train before classes, then go to school and also train in the afternoons. That was Tom Price, what a great man. He passed away in 2006.”

After over a decade of dedicated paddling at Roodeplaat Dam, he told Graeme Joffe before the Olympics: “Yes it took me 11 years to qualify for Olympics. The past two have been difficult. It is a tough event, but we are all equal, the boats are the same and it is just whoever is ready, whoever is more hungry.

“To qualify as a lightweight crew, we need to be 70kg, so we’ve had quite a bit to lose! Maybe one can weigh 72kg and we can donate amongst each other. So, if anyone is having a tough day, we share the weight and we work together to that.

“I don’t just row in a four. I came ninth in the World Cup in the single sculls in 2009. But I love the lightweight four. When things are going well, you are always going to love it and obviously if things aren’t going well, you aren’t going to love it. You are always going to blame three people but it has been good. I am enjoying it, I am loving it.”

Behind Ndlovu in the boat, Brittain, 25 from Johannesburg, lists his hobbies as cycling, swimming and rock climbing. His brother Lawrence Brittain who is also a rower and has represented South Africa at international level. Brittain won a gold medal with fellow golden boy Smith at the 2011 World U23 Championships in Brest, Belarus.

After finishing second to the Danes in Wednesday semi-final, Brittain said: "We don't chase the medal. We chase the good race and that's what gives us the good result."

Smith, 22, cut his hand in the semi, smearing his blood all over the boat. A Germiston lad, he also does a bit of male modelling.

Capetonian James Thompson, 25, learned to row at St Andrews College in Grahamstown where he also played rugby.

Nobody really expected a win for a four who came 11th at the past two World Championships – before they came in second in the World Cup regatta at Lucerne earlier this year.

Only one rowing expert really believed in their potential - Don Cech, now coaching rowing on the lake just outside Grahamstown where Thompson learned the trade - won South Africa’s only other rowing medal when he team up with Ramon Di Clemente for the men's pairs bronze at Athens 2004.

Chad's dad: the interview which wowed the Olympics... and your chance-by-chance guide to more South African medals

Unbelievable: Bert le Clos raving about golden boy Chad

IT’S being described in England as the best inerview of the London 2012 Olympics so far. The moment Bert le Clos, father of golden boy Chad, let it all hang out on the BBC.

Interviewed by Clare Balding high in the stands, bearded Bert could barely restrain himself after seeing the world’s greatest Olympian Michael Phelps beaten to the touch for a 200m butterfly triumph which secured South Africa’s best-ever double-gold start to a modern Olympiad.

Viewers around the world laughed and cried as Bert raved: "Unbelievable, unbelievable, unbelievable. I’ve never been so happy in my life. It's like I just died and went to heaven. Whatever happens in my life now, it’s plain sailing. It’s plain sailing.

“Unbelievable. He’s the most beautiful, down-to-earth boy you could ever meet in your life.

“Fabulous. My boy Chad? He's beautiful! What a beautiful boy! Sorry, sorry. Look at him! He swims like you can’t believe. I love you. Oh my God.

“My other son is here, the small one, he’s somewhere out there, I can’t find him. He’s all over the place, you know. It’s not easy to get tickets. Unbelievable. Thanks Great Britain. Thank you very much."

Proud dad Bert’s 1min 45sec video meltdown is, legally, unavailable to South African viewers. Hopefully some technical guru will sneak it on to our screens later today. His gruff South African tones reflect the pride of a nation as Le Clos added to compatriot Cameron van der Burgh’s world-record breaking win on Sunday night in the 100m breast-stroke.

Chad, 20, went in to London 2012 admitting: “My time will come at Rio 2016,” and the lad who matriculated from Westville Boys’ High in 2009 was nearly overcome by emotion when Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika echoed around the packed Aquadome for a second time in three nights.

As a stunned Phelps – later to win a record 19^thmedal in the 4x200m freestyle relay – threw an arm round his nemesis, Chad himself told the cameras: “To be honest I was lucky. Watching all Michael's races I know he finishes strong. It sounds crazy but I actually thought I was Michael at the last turn.

”Ever since I was 12, watching Athens 2004 when he won six gold medals, Michael has been an inspiration and role model.

"I have all his major races on my computer, I’ve watched the 100m butterfly final at Beijing 2008 a million times, when he beat Serbia’s Milorad Cavic by 0.01 seconds. I think I’ve seen that in seven different languages."

"When I turned there was a trigger point. I looked at him and I just thought I could try do something special. The last 25 metres were in slow motion and I just remember thinking to myself: ‘Don’t shorten up, keep it long.”

He did. And South Africans were treated to perhaps the most dramatic victory possible with bemused commentators raving about Phelps’s “rookie mistake”.

Le Clos could yet threaten the podium again in the final of Friday’s 200m individual medley. Remember, South Africa didn’t win a single gold in Beijing four years ago, where Khotso Mokoena’s long jump silver was the only thing of value brought home from a cheerless trip to China.

In fact you have to go back to Atlanta in 1996 to find a more successful gold haul, when Penny Heyns (two in the pool) and Hosiah Thugwane (marathon) triumphed in the USA.

Now South Africa, currently the leading African nation at the games of the 30^th Olympiad, stand on the verge of serious success. Tomorrow, the men’s lightweight four of James Thompson, Matthew Brittain, John Smith, Siswe Ndlovugo in to the final at Eton Dorney as fifth fastest qualifiers.

But given their second place at the Lucerne World Cup earlier this year, a medal is not beyond the realms of possibility. Remember, Le Clos was 50-1 to win gold against Phelps.

I’ve been to a couple of Olympics and witnessed how athletes feed off each other’s success in the village and around the venues. I suspect that may be the case here, with Team South Africa going in to the athletics on Friday with renewed confidence, real self-belief.

Sascoc’s predicted 12 medals remain a distant hope but I reckon South Africa could finish with ten gongs… and this is where the medals could be won:

Thursday 2: Rowing: Men's lightweight four: Brittain, Ndlovu, Smith, Thompson

Friday 3: Men's 200m Individual Medley: Le Clos

Saturday 4: Men’s long jump final: Mokoena

Sunday 5: Men’s 100m final (Usain Bolt) and women’s marathon with strong SA team

Monday 6: Men's 400m hurdles: LJ Van Zul

Tuesday 7: Men’s triathlon: Richard Murray

Thursday 9: Women’s K1 500: Bridgitte Hartley

Thursday 9: Women’s javelin final, Sunette Viljoen.

Friday 10: Men’s BMX final: Sifiso Nhlapo

Friday 10: Men’s 4x400m relay: four from Oscar Pistorius, Van Zyl, Fredericks, Ofentse Mogawane, Willie de Beer and Shaun de Jager.

Saturday 11: Final of women’s 800m: Caster Semenya

Sunday 12: Men's mountain biking: Burry Stander