Blitzbok star Siviwe Soyizwapi exclusive: Why "pioneers of greatness" mentality is the way to go forward
Olympic sevens bronze Siviwe Soyizwapi reflects on South Africa’s "pioneers of greatness" mentality, the impact of career-threatening injuries, and the resilience required to overcome setbacks.
Rugby Sevens
As Siviwe Soyizwapi held the bronze medal with the depiction of Nike, the Greek goddess of victory, images of the difficult recovery from a career-threatening injury flashed through his mind.
The Blitzboks stalwart and former captain suffered a serious injury in training – which required surgery – less than a year earlier. Soyizwapi made his return to the field nine months later at the SVNS Series final in Madrid in June 2024.
To add to the uncertainty, South Africa still needed to earn their place for Paris 2024 at the final qualification tournament in Monaco. They had to win the tournament. Failing to earn an automatic qualifying spot represented a stunning fall from grace for one of the giants of the game.
But both Soyizwapi and the Blitzboks team managed to overcome severe odds to bow out of the Paris 2024 tournament as unlikely medallists.
“When I held the bronze medal in my hands, all the flashbacks of the time during rehabilitation were flashing in my head,” Soyizwapi said.
“And that whole evening I struggled to fall asleep and go to bed. I was thinking of the days when I felt like my body was failing.
“And yeah, it's just so sweet. You think of all the hard days as well when you are pushing on to be strong again and get the body back to where it's supposed to be.”
Siviwe Soyizwapi: Embracing the sleep killers
The 31-year-old Soyizwapi admits the extreme highs of winning medals at major tournaments like the Olympics, the World Championships and the Sevens Series were sleep killers. After each triumph, Soyizwapi would toss and turn like he did the night after the bronze-medal moment in Stade de France in Paris.
In a career spanning nearly a decade and over 50 World Sevens Series tournaments, Soyizwapi has had his fair share of sleepless nights. The Blitzbok speed merchant has won three World Sevens Series titles, Commonwealth Games gold and bronze at the 2018 Rugby World Cup Sevens in San Francisco where he was the tournament's joint top try scorer.
Growing up in the rugby-mad Eastern Cape, Soyizwapi was destined for a career in the sport as he looked to etch out a career in the Sevens code. Initially making his professional mark in the 15-man game, Soyizwapi finally got his break in the truncated format with a debut for the Blitzboks at the 2016 Hong Kong tournament.
There was some disappointment for Soyizwapi as he missed out on selection for the Rio 2016 Olympics where South Africa won the bronze medal in the inaugural Sevens tournament at the Games.
Siviwe Soyizwapi: A star in a golden era
But as it turned out, Soyizwapi would have plenty of opportunities to collect accolades playing under Neil Powell, who oversaw the golden era of the Blitzboks. The side won three World Rugby Sevens Series titles, two Commonwealth Games gold medals, and bronzes at the Rio 2016 and 2018 Rugby World Cup Sevens during his nine years at the helm. During this time, Powell instilled a culture of excellence through the ‘pioneers of greatness’ motto.
“The vision of where the squad was at the time. There are always slogans that we try to live out and at the time we had the "pioneers of greatness" motto and vision,” Soyizwapi said.
“That's what that group from that era saw and that's what that group started living out. At that time that vision was the drive for the culture.”
The side has gone through a difficult transition since Powell left the team at the end of 2022, with the side failing to earn automatic qualification for Paris 2024. South Africa needed to finish among the top four teams in the World Rugby Sevens Series at the end of the 2022/23 season to book their place. This seemed like a mere formality for the Blitzboks who finished in the top four in all but five of the 23 tournaments since its inception in 1999.
Siviwe Soyizwapi and the pioneers of greatness
Going from a desperate low of nearly missing out on qualifying for the Olympics to winning a second bronze medal, Soyizwapi believes the current crop of players is embracing the ‘pioneers of greatness’ culture.
“We have already started something. This is the next generation of Springbok Sevens players. We have begun working towards something big, you know, and I wouldn't and I wouldn't necessarily be part of the glory days of this squad.
“But if I feel like I've contributed enough for the team to be able to ride into the sunset, you know, then I can turn away and say, ‘Okay, now I can see they are sailing nicely, and I can turn my back and walk away.’”
Apart from recovering from a serious knee injury that could easily have ended his career, Soyizwapi also had to recover mentally from the Tokyo 2020 anti-climax. South Africa went into that tournament among the favourites, but a series of setbacks ultimately tanked their medal hopes. Powell tested positive for COVID-19 on arrival in Japan along with some of the players.
"If I can still compete at a high level, then why would I step away?”
In the end, the team had to be content with a fifth-place finish following their quarter-final defeat to Argentina. The Blitzboks seemed to hit rock bottom ahead of Paris 2024 making it to their third Olympics by the skin of their teeth. The Springbok Sevens beat Great Britain 14-5 in their World Rugby Sevens Repechage final in Monaco to claim the last spot for the global showpiece.
“I think for us, what people missed or failed to understand was that we were always focussed on the process of turning things around for the team,” Soyizwapi said about being written off before Paris.
“I really believe that the stage of the Olympics, the type of tournament and playing at such a stage came at the right time. It just drove the boys even more, which is to achieve something as well.”
Now in the twilight of his career, Soyizwapi has no best-before or expiration date in mind and will continue for as long as he believes he is making a positive contribution.
“If my body is still functioning and I can compete and I'm still in there,” he said.
“That's my mentality, and that's how I'm looking at things. I don't have a date when I'll stop playing. The mindset is if my body is still in shape to actually play and if I can still keep up and compete at a high level, then why would I step away?”