It has all the characteristics of a Shakespearean tragedy, although the playwright’s special imagery is lacking.

The clock says it is 11:30 and the mercury is exploding under the merciless sun of Tokyo. Only the athletes know whether the scorching conditions in the Olympic Stadium bothers them. The South African 4 X 100 m relay team and their peers from Jamaica, Great Britain, Japan, France, Brazil, Trinidad and Tobago and the Netherlands are ready. Clarence Munyai, Shaun Maswanganyi, Chederick van Wyk and Akani Simbine have the finish line in their sights.

With Gift Leotlela injured, Maswanganyi was selected as one of the relay four and he is supposed to receive the baton from Munyai after the first 100 m. Chederick van Wyk has the third leg and the straight belongs to Simbine.  

I think everybody reading this knows what happened. Just imagine what this must have felt like. You are 200 m away from receiving the baton. You are 26, it is the Olympic Games, it is your chance. The baton drops. You stand and look back. It is hot in Tokyo. Next time you will be 30.

“To me, it was a great honour to walk onto the track today. To be here,” says Chederick van Wyk.  “Just the fact that I am here,” he says to Potchefstroom, thousands of kilometres away. It is barely three hours since his Olympic dream rooted him to his starting point without his doing, without a single step, without fate having taken all his injuries into account.  

“Yes, it is unfortunate that I did not get a chance to run, but that is part of sport …” His voice fades away in the infinite moment that never happened.  Then: “It is a pity that I could not take part, but no performance I could have achieved could have removed this smile from my face.  I am still glad that I could just be here.

“It just makes me hungrier for the next Games. You must just keep on and on, and then you will succeed.”

The street address is 10-1 Kasumigaokamachi, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, and there is a stadium there. A Colosseum for fighters. And a few hours ago we learnt:  

Sometimes a hero just has to stand there.