Prudence Sekgodiso say she is pleased to have qualified for the Olympic finals.
When Prudence Sekgodiso took to the track for the grand finale of the 800 m race at the 2024 Paris Olympics, she had butterflies in her stomachs – it was a grueling test of character.
Back home in the dusty village of Medingen, Bolobedu, her family was on tenterhooks.
It was not meant to be for South Africa’s middle-distance runner as she finished last.
Sekgodiso started the race well but ran out of steam on the bend of the final lap and threw the towel once she saw that she would not get a medal and then settled for eighth place with a time of 1:58.79.
Great Britain’s Keely Hodgkinson walked away with the gold medal, with Ethiopia’s Tsige Duguma and Kenya’s Mary Moraa grabbing silver and bronze, respectively.
Sekgodiso qualified for the final after impressively finishing second behind Hodgkinson on a race that raised hopes that she would be one of the favourites to medal.
Despite a disappointing final display, the 22-year-old could not have asked for a better Olympic campaign, as she defied all odds in her first-ever Olympic Games appearance.
“The plan was to stick with the girls for as long as I could. I know I’m not good in the final 100m and when I saw the girls coming past me, I thought I must just keep my head up and keep going,” Sekgodiso said after the race.
“I’m so happy I made the final, come on guys, it means a lot to me. This was a tough tournament, with three races in three day.
“I’m not used to that. Normally I can have a day or two to recover but here I couldn’t. I have to take sleeping pills to sleep and then I wake up late, so the recovery period was difficult for a programme like this.”
Sekgodiso’ semifinal finish at the Olympics was a significant turn-around from the world championships in Budapest last year when she crashed out down the semifinals after falling early in the second lap.
Ahead of the semifinals, Sekgodiso, who had blood on her right shin after getting spiked during the race, got herself into the front bunch and was fourth after the first 400 m.
When Hodgkinson pushed ahead the 22-year-old South African followed her, and by the time she hit the home straight she had a healthy lead on the nearest rivals behind her.
The Mopani speed queen, a middle-distance runner who specialises in the 800 meters, was the gold medalist in the 800 m at the 2019 African U/18 Championships and a five-time South African winner in the 1500 m and 800 m.
Sekgodiso earned her first international medal at the 20218 African Youth Games, winning a bronze in the 800 m behind gold medalist Hirut Meshesha.
Her bulging silverware cabinet at her rural home bears testimony to an athletic icon who has fared pretty well the African Youth Games, the Youth Olympics, World Cross Country Championships, African Championships, World Championships and the Commonwealth Games.