In some ways Zakithi Nene is an accidental athlete.
The 27-year-old is rising towards the zenith of a track-and-field career that might never have happened had a few flukes not panned out perfectly in his favour.
The Durban-based sprinter, who anchored the national men’s 4x400m team to gold at the World Relays in China recently, admitted he probably wouldn’t have gone into athletics had he not been picked up by a development programme run by the KwaZulu-Natal department of sport.
He was a regular pupil at high school in Ladysmith in 2013, enjoying other sports like rugby, when he was drafted into a programme aimed at developing talent for the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Durban.
In matric in 2015 Nene switched schools to Glenwood in Durban which was awarded the Games, only for it to be given up controversially some two years later.
They were the Games that never were, but they sparked the programme that benefited Nene.
“I really don’t think I would be a track athlete if it wasn’t for that, I think it gave me that nudge,” Nene told the Sunday Times this week.
“Track and field is a very expensive sport, so being able to have all the medical costs covered — I’ve torn my hamstring, torn my Achilles and they’ve taken me for ultra-sounds, scans. It’s not something that I’ve had to worry about.”
Nene grew up enjoying the outdoors in Ladysmith, where his mother is a teacher. He played in the streets with other kids, indulging in soccer, cricket and rugby.
Having completed his BCom degree, sport is his focus, although he enjoys his gaming, with a preference for Fifa, where he’s played 100m king Akani Simbine a few times. “He’s slightly better right now,” admitted Nene, who shares a flat with younger brother Thabo.
Otherwise fun includes going out to dinner with mates. “Track athletes are such boring people,” he said with a chuckle.
But Nene has been anything but boring on the track this season, having found another gear. He won the national title in Potchefstroom in 44.22sec, the second-fastest time by a South African after Wayde van Niekerk. It was also the second-fastest time on South African soil.
Then Nene anchored the national men’s 4x400m team to gold at the World Relays in China recently, running a 44.64 split that broke the 25-year-old record for fastest relay leg, held by Arnaud Malherbe.
Nene, who used to be known as a fast starter, has changed his training and race techniques after a disappointing performance at the Paris Olympics last year.
“I’ve somewhat tweaked my race model … I got a bit stronger in the gym as well to allow me to finish much stronger.
“I think I’ve finally understood that the race is not won in the first 200m, but also at the finish line.
“Just being able to be calm through my approach and being able to execute my phases the way I want to so I can power home the way I should, it’s very refreshing.
“I’ve been running the 400m the same way ever since I started. Now it’s like I’m learning the event all over again.”
Nene describes the Games in France as the lowest point of his career, managing a best time of 44.81 in the repechage round before being eliminated in the semifinal stage.
“I was in much better shape than I showed. I felt as if I would have been better off not going to the Olympics. Financially, I took a hit … lost a sponsorship along the way,” said Nene, who based himself in Europe during the build-up.
He was part of the 4x400m team that finished fifth in the Olympic relay final in a 2min 58.12sec national record, but that wasn’t enough compensation. “Personally, I wanted more.”
Nene, who made his senior national debut for the relay team at the World Cup meet in London in 2018, has become one of the mainstays of the outfit that is now eyeing silverware at the world championships in Tokyo later this year and, potentially, all the way through to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
He explains that the depth of 400m running has grown in the past couple of years.
The 45.51sec winning time he ran at the 2022 national championships in Cape Town would have been good enough only for sixth spot this year, when all eight finalists ran under 46 seconds.
Apart from some promising youngsters in the mix, 400m world record-holder Van Niekerk is also in the wings.
“I know Wayde has been talking about going back into the relay. That’s why he wants to focus more on the 200m so he can have a leg or two with the 4x400 relay. He likes that relay set-up.”
But Nene’s aspirations should be greater than just the relay. It’s still early in the season, but he’s fourth on the world list for this year so far and he is on the verge of breaking into the sub-44-second club, which totals just 26 athletes.
“It definitely looks like [I’ll break 44 this season], but I don’t want to put that unnecessary pressure on me. That 44.22 I ran at nationals, I didn’t put any pressure on in terms of the time,” said Nene, who takes on Olympic champion Quincy Hall in Rabat tonight.
“I’m hoping it happens before the season ends. It’s exciting to know it’s something well within reach right now.”
When it happens it won’t be an accident.
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