On Saturday, 10 August, in a packed Stade de France, Jo-Ané van Dyk won an Olympic Games silver medal in the javelin throw, and beaming at her in the Parisian night was her coach, Terseus Liebenberg. There might be a few more silver streaks in the wily old fox’s mane, but make no mistake, he still has tricks aplenty up his sleeve.
The 68-year-old – who has been the athletics manager at the North-West University (NWU) for a good three decades – has now had his hand in two Olympic silvers. The first came when his remarkable protégé, Sunette Viljoen, bagged second place at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Terseus’s prowess as a coach is the stuff of legend, and his list of achievements is unparalleled. Just think back to Marius Corbett’s 1997 World Championships win in Athens and the countless medals his athletes have achieved since. L.E.G.E.N.D.
Almost three decades since the first medal, and a few days after Jo-Ané’s spectacular display, it is all smiles from South Africa’s pre-eminent javelin-throw fundi: “It is amazing. I have got this overwhelming sense of satisfaction and contentment,” he exclaimed.
Terseus started coaching Jo-Ané, an Outeniqua High School alum, in 2016 at the NWU, and he was not alone in spotting something special.
“I immediately knew that there was potential here. Jan Železný, the Czech javelin world record holder, also saw it. We agreed: This young woman is going to win an Olympic medal one day. She also believed it.”
Talent is not an automatic precursor to success, and Jo-Ané did not shy away from putting in the hard yards.
“From the get-go she had self-discipline, she worked hard, she was focused, and she was loyal to her aims. She is intelligent, she is a champion person.”
Back to the night of 10 August. Jo-Ané’s third throw of the evening reached a sweet 63,93 m after a somewhat uninspiring start. “This is brilliant,” thought Terseus, “she is going to finish in the top four.”
By round five of the finals, Norwegian coach Paul André Solberg leaned over to him and quipped: “I bet you are sweating a bit now.” By this stage, Jo-Ané looked all but set for a podium finish.
Then the finals were over, and the 26-year-old was an Olympic champion.
“The tears just flowed. I was proud and grateful for her years of commitment. I have always wanted this for her. You stand there in that packed stadium, and you know your job is done. Those were tears of joy.”
Afterwards, Terseus was responsible for arranging to bring the silver medallist’s javelins home to South Africa, and Jo-Ané had a mandatory drug test and press interviews to attend to.
There is no bigger indication of what Terseus Liebenberg means to the Olympian than to look at the extraordinary efforts she went to to help him accompany her to France. Jo-Ané launched a fundraising project to finance the trip, and the business community of Terseus’s hometown, Potchefstroom, his family, international athletes and even some of Jo-Ané’s fiercest opponents all contributed.
So, when she boarded a Métro train on Sunday morning to Saint-Denis, she undertook a journey to not only meet up with her mentor. It was more than that.
They embraced, sharing emotions said and unsaid. They had coffee, he told her how proud he was of her. How happy he was for her.
Then she took out her Olympic silver medal, and pandemonium ensued. Jo-Ané was immediately swamped by onlookers who wanted to have their picture taken with her.
Terseus smiled, he stepped back and made room for the growing number of fans.
“Enjoy this,” he said to her, “you deserve every second.”
