Zaahier Adams
“Super, super happy!”
That was South African mountain biker Alan Hatherly’s elated reaction after he raced into the history books yesterday to secure Team SA’s second bronze medal of the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Hatherly claimed a maiden medal for South Africa in the men’s cross country, and in turn also became the first South African cyclist to win a medal since Melbourne 1956.
The 28-year-old formed part of an epic race, with Great Britain’s Tom Pidcock winning the gold medal in 1hr:26.22min and France’s Victor Koretzky taking the silver. Hatherly was third in 1:26.33.
“It still hasn’t sunk in yet. It’s been flat-out since the race. It’s been a career goal of mine since I was a child growing up. To have achieved that today is unbelievable,” Hatherly said.
“It’s been such a journey to get to this point. The last few weeks are always the most difficult, when you have done all the preparation, so to put the cherry on top when you only have one chance to deliver a performance, and to achieve that without making any mistakes is an achievement in itself.
“To have got the bronze, for me, and for the team, and for South Africa, is a dream come true. Super, super happy!”
Pidcock was the deserving victor, managing to defend his Tokyo Olympic title in heroic fashion. The Brit had suffered a front wheel puncture on the fourth of eight laps of the 4.4km circuit at Elancourt Hill.
It left him 35 seconds adrift, forcing him to make his way through the field 15 places behind the leaders. However, he still had the energy reserves to battle through an intense race to the finish line with hometown favourite Koretzky.
The lead had changed numerous times on the final lap, but ultimately Pidcock’s determination took him past Koretzky with just under a kilometre to go.
Hatherly, though, deserves all the plaudits too for staying with the frontmen right up until that lung-breaking final lap.
The South African had gone hard up front in the early laps and it was evident that he was tiring on a searingly hot Parisian afternoon, but Hatherly showed his experience and maturity to manage his race by backing off the leaders before coming back in big energy bursts to maintain his medal position.
“It was an unbelievable race. It was super fast and tactical. I had an amazing start and managed to clear the chaos and risk factor in lap one,” he said.
“I then started to position and save some energy, and got a bit caught out at that point due to going out too early, possibly. I then had to chase quite hard to get back into the medal positions.
“I was in second place, trying to control the gap to Victor, and I was planning on emptying the tank in the last two laps and getting back to the front, and in that moment Tom was coming back from his mechanical (issue) and then it was a massive battle for the medals.
“No regrets. At the end I left everything out there that I possibly could. I think it’s every athlete’s dream to get an Olympic medal, and for me to achieve that today is unbelievable and (I’m at) a loss for words. It’s going to take some time to settle in.”