Wayne Snyman, Lebogang Shange & Marc Mundell

Birthday: 8 March 1985

Olympic event: 20km race walk

Best time: 1:20:46

Olympic participation: 2016 in Rio

Olympic dream: I watched the opening ceremony of the Barcelona Olympic Games back in 1992 with my grandma and immediately I was hooked by sport. I told her right there and then, that I wanted to go the Olympic Games, doesn’t matter which sport, but I want to compete at the highest level.

Reason for choosing the sport you specialize in: Throughout my life I worked hard at everything, testing all sports, failing, succeeding gaining experience in team and individual sports… hoping that I will find the sport that will take me to the Games.One night I was dared to race walk, a sport I only saw at track meets. I went like a bullet and won the race. I never trained for it and knew nothing about the sport but yet, I won the 3000m walk in 14min, which appar-ently was “good”. I got hooked on the feeling of win-ning and breaking records and I knew there and then, this is the sport I had been waiting for. I was 17.

Biggest accomplishment in your sport: I have to say competing at the World Student Games was one of my biggest moments but my first official qualifier this year in Adelaide was the biggest.

What one or two things do you currently do in your training that is keys to your success?I have to say core is very important and our tempo race simulation sessions.

What would be your ultimate achievement? Getting top 10 at the Rio Olympic Games later this year.

What is your biggest challenge, and what do you do to manage this challenge? Losing focus during long periods of training blocks. I make sure I surround myself with positive people who appreciate and respect my goals and passion

What is your diet like? Whole grain, high carbs and high protein.

What are things do you believe differentiates you from your contemporaries who have tailed off in their athletic participation and abilities? I cannot speak for other people, but I believe in what I do with my coach and my support system. The harder I work the more confidence I get. When the going gets tough, I fall back on what I have, the positive and my hard work.

What led to your breakthrough? Determination, consistent hard training and a belief in the plan.

What was the best advice you were ever given? Character is shown when you have patience when you have nothing and your attitude when you have every-thing.

Do you have a saying or motto that you live your life by? Harden up princess.

Where do you draw your inspiration from? My support system – My wife, coach, friends and family

Birthday: 1 August 1990

Olympic event: 20km race walking

Best time: 1:20:06 which is a South African record.

Olympic participation: 2016 in Rio

Coach: Chris Britz.

Best performance at a major event: 11th in a SA record time at the 2015 World Champion-ships in Beijing.

Reasons for choosing race walking as the sport to specialize in: I converted to race walking after watching the 50km race of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.As I am slightly ‘lazy’ by nature watching the race intrigued me. It looked so easy, like a walk in the park it was hard to believe that it is an Olympic Sport. So I started walking but I soon realized that there is more to race walking than I thought. I then started reading up about it on the internet.

Motivation: I am driven by a hunger to make South Africans proud every time I race and it is easy to do so because ‘Team Shange’ consists of some of the top scientists at the HPC and Chris Britz is undoubtely one of the best coaches. I also have friends and family who help me to stay hungry and chase my dreams. The ultimate for me will be to win an Olympic medal for South Africa in Rio.

What led to your breakthrough: Things really started happening when I met up with Britz and became a sponsored athlete at hpc.

Wayne Snyman Lebogang Shange Lebogang Shange

Age: 32

Sport: Athletics - race walking

What got you started: Literally following in my dad’s footsteps. Started when i was 13

What is your biggest accomplishment in your sports?Firstly, qualifying for the 2012 Olympics & then setting a PB/NR/AR at the gamesSecondly qualifying for the 2016 games What one or two things do you currently do in your training that are keys to your success?Limiting the distractions, following routine and having consistency

What would be your ultimate achievement?To be the Chef De Mission of an Olympic team How do you set your goals?I try to set progressive and realistic goals and aspirations. Most of the time, all i aim for is a 1-second personal best

What is your biggest challenge, and what do you do to manage this challenge?The biggest challenge is that south African race walkers currently can’t qualify for any major championships (Olympics or world championships) in south Africa. As a result, i travel abroad (self-funded) to race in Iiaf accredited race walking events. I have strived to promote race walking in south Africa, as in 2012, i became the first male walker since 1960 to represent south Africa at the the Olympic games. Now, in 2016, there are three men and 1 woman competing.

What is your diet like?I have previously followed a very Banting orientated eating plan, cutting out all gluten and wheat from my diet. I try to avoid sugar as far as possible in daily intake. I attended a research training camp in Australia between November 2015 and February 2016 where i was able to experiment with different eating and race strategies

What 1-2 things do you believe differentiates you from your contemporaries who have tailed off in their athletic participation and abilities?I am very driven to achieve my goals and make the necessary sacrifices I receive unwavering support and encouragement from my wife, parents, sister, family, coach and friends

What led to your breakthrough?I changes coaches in October 2011 before the London games. I also made peace with the costs of achieving my goal and became willing to pay the necessary price to achieve without expectation of any handouts. Lastly, i also changed aspects of my mindset from:

Outcome to process orientated approachExtrinsic to intrinsic motivation; &External to internal locus of control

Within 7 months i lowered my pb by nearly 7 minutes and qualified

What was the best advice you were ever given?Stop trying to achieve for somebody or to impress anybody else! Do whatever it takes to achieve your dreams and stop blaming other people or the system

13) Where do you draw your inspiration from?I try to keep positive company which is why i choose to live in Pretoria and to train at the hpc/TUKS. I draw inspiration from positive people and from reading autobiographies and watching sporting movies. I have several biblical scriptures from which i draw inspiration during training and races.

Marc Mundell