The reintroduction of South Africa's Akani Simbine: More than just an athlete
This is the reintroduction of Akani Simbine. No longer defined by athletics, Simbine has tapped into the ‘kid that is just running for fun’.
Simbine used to have his identity all wrapped in his athletics career before the bitter disappointment of Tokyo 2020 sent him into a deep depression. The constant chase for small gains had taken its toll. The podium had eluded him again, missing out on the medals by four-hundredths of a second for a cursed fourth place.
“I did everything I needed to do for track or the sport. I ate right, I sacrificed time with my family. I did all these things,” Simbine said in an exclusive interview with Olympics.com.
“I was just the athlete. I pushed everything away and I still got disappointed. When I got disappointed, I had nothing to run back to. I had nothing that was my foundation or my security because now my whole identity doesn't know anything else than track. I was supposed to get a medal and now I didn't get a medal. So now what must happen?”
Akani Simbine finding himself
When Simbine got back from the Olympics, he locked himself up in his home for more than a week before his mother, Elsie, sounded the alarm. A worried Elsie pleaded with her son ‘to go see someone’ and Simbine eventually reluctantly caved.
A psychiatrist diagnosed Simbine with depression which would ultimately send him on a path to recovery and rediscovery.
“That was the point where I realised, let's try for me. And I had to kind of take myself out of athletics so that I can find, me,” Simbine said.
“I couldn't, like, fully leave the sport, but I had to exit because I needed to work on myself. And that was more important than me getting results and me going and running.”
Simbine’s 2022 season, compared to the seven before, can only be described as an annus horribilis. Going into that season, Simbine had already conceded his African record of 9.84 seconds to Kenya’s Ferdinand Omanyala, who clocked a blistering 9.77s in September 2021.
By the end of 2022, Omanyala had usurped Simbine of his African and Commonwealth Games crowns.
Demonstrating his class, Simbine still managed to get onto the podium finishing second behind Omanyala at both major championships. To further highlight his pedigree, Simbine featured at his third consecutive 100m at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon.
Akani Simbine: Africa's sprinting king
Simbine has been the undisputed king of African sprinting for the better part of the last decade reaching the finals at the last two Olympic editions and three of the last four World Championships. Since breaking through the magical mark for the first time in 2015, Simbine has posted 40 legal sub-10 seconds times in the blue-riband event.
The renewed focus on his own well-being instead of obsessing over a fleeting sports career paid off on and off the track in 2023. The prolific sub-10 seconds runner again regularly dipped below the barrier and stepped onto the podium on the global circuit.
Simbine was on track to reach his fourth consecutive 100m final at the World Championships before a false start in the semi-finals in Budapest ended his streak. Instead of spiralling from disappointment, Simbine accepted his fate and turned his focus to Paris 2024.
“Now I'm not doing a sport because I feel like I have to. I'm not competing with this pressure on me. And it feels like a reintroduction into the game for me,” Simbine said.
“Especially this year, I'm running less stressed. I'm running freer, I'm running without any pressure. I'm trying to be the little kid that I was who's just running for fun, trying to beat the fastest kid in the street. That's it!”
A renewed mindset
With a renewed mindset, Simbine is ready to take on the best in the world again for a shot at etching his name into the annals of Olympic history. Simbine, along with Omanyala and Botswana phenom Letsile Tebogo are gunning to become the first black African athlete to win gold in the 100m at the Olympic Games. One would have to go back more than 100 years to the last time an African has won the Olympic 100m title.
South Africa's Reggie Walker is the last sprinter from the continent to win the coveted title at the London 1908 Games. Aged 19 years and 128 days, Walker was the youngest winner of the Olympic 100m and, in the process, became Africa's first medal-winner at the Games.
Simbine is enjoying a stunning buildup to his third Olympic Games finishing on top of the podium in each of his four 100m races this season. His victories include two Diamond League triumphs over world-class contenders such as reigning Olympic champion Marcell Jacobs and former world champions Christian Coleman and Fred Kerley.
“I'm enjoying it (racing), man. Like, track is fun and not only training but being in the space and these circles is fun. I'm enjoying it,” he said.
“I've raced against the best and I've beaten them. As coach (Werner Prinsloo) always says, ‘It's difficult to beat a confident athlete’. It's difficult to beat someone who's on the run and someone who believes in himself.”
Akani Simbine: Fast finisher
A key element of Simbine’s renewed confidence is focusing on his strengths instead of ruminating over his weaknesses. While Simbine may not have the best starts in the world, his top-end speed is almost second to none.
In previous years, Simbine would employ a team of specialists to shave milliseconds off his start and add oomph to his driving phase. But beating some of the best starters in the business with a blistering finish has given Simbine the confidence he needs ahead of the Games.
“I have learned to trust myself even more, trust my race pattern, and trust Akani first. If you are very close to me. If you are in reach of me in the start. You're not going to beat me,” Simbine said.
“I feel like I have the fastest top-end speed in the world right now. Once I get a top-end speed, I will catch you and I will pass you and I'm going to win. That's where I'm at. And that's what my head tells me. And that's something I believe in now.”