South Africa's athlete Mpumelelo Mhlongo (R) reacting as he crosses the finish line to win the Gold Medal in the Para Athletics Men’s 100m - T44 final at the Stade de France during the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris Mpumelelo Mhlongo’s journey to Paralympic success has been anything but easy
Image: Adrian Dennis/OIS/IOC/AFP
Following his incredible success at the Paris Paralympic Games earlier this year, South Africa’s Mpumelelo Mhlongo said it was a mix of relief and pride after he collected a gold and bronze medal at the quadrennial showpiece event.
Mhlongo first claimed gold in the men’s T44 100m before adding the bronze in the Men’s T64 200m.
Though he set a new T44 world record in that 200m, he was competing in the higher T64 category and had to initially settle for fourth.
However, a lane infringement from German athlete Feliz Strenge which ended in disqualification meant another hunk of metal for Mhlongo.
“There was no disappointment for me finishing fourth; the first thing I saw was that I had the world record, and I was quite chuffed and excited for that, Mhlongo told Sportboom.com.
“I already knew that the lane infringement was in place; the athlete that did it was on my outside lane, and he was later disqualified. He stepped in to my lane, so I knew that there was going to be some sort of infringement protocol applied.
“But in all honesty, I was just tired; it was a long week of a lot of events and celebrations and having to come back and peak to do something that had never been done in history before, it was more relief that it was finally done, and we finished on a strong high.”
Mhlongo’s journey to success has been anything but easy. The 30-year-old has constriction ring syndrome and a deformed clubfoot. He has also competed in the long jump in addition to the sprint events, which brought even more challenges he revealed.
“It’s incredibly difficult to find the balance between all events because, if you think about it, any training program is geared for you to peak and specialise in one particular event, especially in track and field.
“It’s like asking a striker to be good at striking practice and also be good at goalkeeping if I have to use a football analogy; it’s not very common, but what we try and do is find the things that are similar in all three events.
“We use those similarities as the strength to go into every event, and then it’s really about taking ten years of your life and ensuring you’re a specialist in all the events.
“It becomes a longer journey than what it would have been if I were a 100-meter sprinter or just a long jumper, but the journey is just that much more rewarding because I get to showcase my talent in a multitude of events.”