SA 800 metres champion set sights on a podium finish in Germiston
The South African 800m champion, Edmund du Plessis, will surely try and prove that you can’t
keep a good man down when he lines up tomorrow to compete in the Germiston Grand Prix
Meeting.
The Tuks athlete, who only turned 21 two weeks ago, is having a good season. Of the eight 800-
metre races he competed in, he won three and was second on three occasions. More importantly,
he has got two titles to his name. Apart from being the SA champion, he has also won during the
Gauteng North Championships.
Last week during the first Grand Prix Meeting at Tuks, things did not quite as Du Plessis had
hoped. Over the last 400 metres, there was a nervous moment or two when one athlete seemingly
lost his balance and nearly went down. It created a domino effect. This chaos caused the Tuks
athlete to be boxed in. The net result was that he ended up finishing last.
Du Plessis is certainly not training three hours daily to make up numbers on the track. It is a given
that he will be in the “mix” tomorrow. He is, however, not committing to any specific tactic.
“Through experience, I have learned that each race has unique challenges. I usually have a look at
the start list. It gives you a rough idea of how the race could play out. If there are many fast
runners, I know I got to be in the front from the start. At other times you know it will be a tactical
race.”
According to his coach, Wiam Grimes, Du Plessis’s best quality as an 800-metre runner is his kick
over the last 200 metres.
“In the off-season, I will work on getting Edmund to be faster over 400 metres. It needs to be
faster if he wants to be genuinely competitive as an 800-metre runner. I am impressed by his
stamina. If Edmund needs to, he can be competitive in quite a few races in a short space of time.
“This season, our focus is to try and get Edmund to qualify for the World Student Games. The
long-term focus will be to qualify for a World Championships or the Olympic Games.”
At the moment, Du Plessis, a third-year medical student, ‘s biggest challenge is finding enough
hours in a day to do what needs to be d