A chance encounter with a gangster made Elroy Gelant reverse his decision to retire from running less than two years ago — and yesterday he finished an impressive 11th in the Olympic marathon in Paris.
That’s the best placing by a South African since Josia Thugwane’s victory at Atlanta 1996, and Geland’s 02hr 09min 07sec was just more than two minutes off the podium.
At 37, the North-West University junior lecturer is pushing out the best performances of his career, yet he actually quit the sport in late 2022, only to change his mind soon afterwards following an encounter with a hoodlum while on holiday in Pacaltsdorp, George, where he grew up.
At the time, Gelant’s discipline had waned dramatically and he had picked up weight, even carrying a boep visible in a photo he keeps on his phone. “I came to a point where I decided ‘I’m done with running, I’m finished now’,” said Gelant, who ended 33rd at the Tokyo 2020 marathon and 13th in the 5,000m at Rio 2016.
He went for a 10km jog, but at halfway he decided to turn back and walk home. “I told myself life is going to start now in terms of my work and these things.”
The next day he received a contract extension from his agent, but he had no intention of signing it. “So I went to the shop in my community in Pacaltsdorp and as I got out of the shop, there was a guy calling me with a deep voice: ‘Hey, Elroy.’ Obviously, it was a gangster,” he said, adding that thugs had hung out at that shop even when he was a kid.
When he was around 10 he had gone there to buy some sweets and a ruffian had stopped him and told him the shop had given him too many sweets and he needed to return a couple. Gelant, naive at the time, believed the gangster and handed them back.
This time he wasn’t even sure whether he should engage the gangster, but because he’s well known in that area, he decided he would. “I went back to him and he said: ‘Elroy, I got out of jail yesterday, and you know what inspiration you mean for our community.’”
Gelant instantly realised he couldn’t quit, understanding he had a deep reason to keep going. He returned to full-time training with a new zest and since last year has set personal best times in the 10km race, marathon and half-marathon.
If you look at the big guns like [Ethiopian Kenenisa] Bekele and [Kenyan Eliud] Kipchoge, they’re behind us you know.
— Elroy Gelant
Gelant was happy with his performance yesterday, saying the route inspection they’d done the day before had been useful. “That mentally helped me a lot,” he said.
“I mean there’s still a lot of work to be done. The move was made on that last killer hill [about 2km from the finish] and I think with better preparation in terms of a more professional approach, we could have done better.”
Gelant works regular nine-hour days, lecturing in industrial psychology and human resource management. “That’s semi-professional, so I think if we can slot in a few training camps of three to four months, you know high altitude, those type of things, [I can do better]…
“But it’s still a solid performance, if you look at the big guns like [Ethiopian Kenenisa] Bekele and [Kenyan Eliud] Kipchoge, they’re behind us you know. So ja, a positive run, confidence-booster going to world champs next year.”
Bekele, winner of multiple Olympic and world championship medals at 5,000m and 10,000m, ended 39th while Kenyan Kipchoge, a two-time Olympic marathon champion and the first man to break two hours, failed to finish.
Stephen Mokoka was 27th in 2:10:59.
Gerda Steyn, Cian Oldknow and Irvette van Zyl compete in the women’s marathon this morning.
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