Francois Prinsloo, 22, still has the rock that he used to heave as a child while honing his throwing skills, and now he wants to win a discus medal at Paris 2024 for the coach who trained both him and his father.
Born in Nairobi but raised in South Africa, mostly in Worcester in the Western Cape, Prinsloo — who is studying biological sciences at the University of South Alabama (USA) in Mobile, Alabama — has an Afrikaner father and a Kenyan mother.
Standing at 1.93m and weighing 115kg, he sent the discus sailing to a 67.26m personal best earlier this year to qualify for the Olympics.
Now his dreams are growing by the day. He aims to break Frantz Kruger’s 22-year 70.32m national record and even make it to the podium in France, a result he says he would dedicate to his former coach Kai Preller, among others.
“Oom Kai has said many times that he thinks I can definitely take that record,” Prinsloo said, using the Afrikaans honorific “uncle” for the older man.
“I still reach out to him, I still ask him to look at my throws, he still gives me advice. I love Oom Kai to bits. He coached my uncle, Willie Prinsloo, in long jump and triple jump and he coached my dad in throws when they were in high school...
“I want to win a medal for Oom Kai and others who are proud of me,” he said at the national track-and-field team’s Olympic training camp in Montpellier.
Paul Brueske, head coach at USA who has learnt some Afrikaans from various South African athletes he’s been involved with, is in France, and as the athlete spoke about his ambition — making the Games final and then a podium — Brueske reminded him to take it one step at a time.
Prinsloo’s father, also Francois, did well in shot put, but Prinsloo jnr liked the look of discus the moment he saw the discipline while still at primary school.
“We were doing shot put in grade 5 and I saw next to us the grade 6s were throwing discus and I was like, ‘That looks like fun, I feel like I could be very good at that’.”
He went home and told his father he was keen to give discus a try.
The next week he bought me this plastic discus. It was very expensive ... And we picked up a rock in my garden. We went to the park and that’s how we started throwing
“I think the next week he bought me this plastic discus. It was very expensive. He didn't have a lot of money at that time... And we picked up a rock in my garden. We went to the park and that’s how we started throwing.”
The rock was for shot put. “And then we started training every second day. We were out there just training, training, training. And then I just started falling in love with it ... We still have that rock in my garden.”
The park where they trained was not properly maintained and the long grass became a problem for the discus. “That thing disappeared in the tall grass every now and then. One day it disappeared forever.”
Years later Prinsloo learnt that his parents were struggling financially at the time.
“My dad told me we were also getting food from the church because we couldn’t buy groceries quite often. So I’m also assuming maybe he might have collected money from there to also help me buy and get a new disc as well.
“And I remember that. Then we got another plastic disc. And in the next year for Christmas he got me a nice rimmed disc. And that was a 1kg so that was for my next weight. And then that year I made [the Boland team] for the first time in grade 7.”
Prinsloo’s passion and hard work paid off — in grade 8 he finished third in the Western Cape and won his first South African title in grade 11, while still at Worcester Gymnasium.
The technique Prinsloo learnt from his father was Preller’s. “I had actually been training with Oom Kai the entire time.”
Prinsloo also enjoyed rugby, getting into Boland training groups, but trials invariably clashed with the national athletics championships.
And when he got back from the athletics championships, “most of the [rugby] team’s already decided ... I just did rugby for the school”, he said, adding he played lock because of his height, yet was the fastest player in the side.
But once he aimed at making the 2018 Youth Olympics he quit rugby to avoid injuries. He went to Argentina seeded third, but finished outside the medals. “It upset me, but I think I needed it because it really pushed me to work as hard as I have until now.”
He credits his parents with having instilled a work ethic in him.
“[My dad taught] us the value of money,” said Prinsloo, who matriculated with an 83% aggregate. “That’s one of the reasons why I think I’ve worked so hard.”
The discus qualifying rounds are on August 5 and the final is two days later.
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