Coaching jumpers to medal is truly a passion for Neil Cornelius

Which South African coach has since 2016 got athletes to medal at the Olympic Games, Paralympic Games, World Championships and the Commonwealth Games?

There is a real chance that very few sports fans will know the answer to this. It does not faze Neil Cornelius. He is not coaching to be famous. He coaches because he gets a kick when athletes fulfil their goals.

It is why he spends hours on end next to a sand pit, trying to figure out what it will take for long and triple jumpers to "fly through the air" for those precious few seconds longer. If they do, it means they will medal.

The Tuks coach is seemingly doing something right. Results don't lie. In 2016 Luvo Manyonga won silver in the long jump during the Rio Olympic Games. The following year Manyonga won gold at the World Championships in London. During the 2021 Paralympic Games in Tokyo, Nthando Mahlangu won gold in the long jump. Now in August, Jovan van Vuuren won bronze at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games.

Cornelius is a full-time coach but does not see his work as work. To him, it is a calling. He lives for that moment when one of his athletes achieves the goal they set themselves.

"It is hard to describe the feelings I had experienced when Jovan (Van Vuuren) won bronze during the Birmingham Commonwealth Games. When I saw the joy . . . emotion on his face, I realised again why I was coaching. It is to make a difference. You can't put a monetary value to any such moment."

According to Cornelius, athletics is in his blood.

"I grew up next to the athletics track when my dad was coaching. My uncle Steve was quite competitive when he competed as a junior in discus and hammer throw events. Unfortunately, my athletics career was curtailed by an ankle ligament injury early on.

"I still wanted to be involved in athletics, so I started to coach. Within a year, one of my young athletes jumped further than I did as a senior. It made me realise that I might have a coaching talent."

As said, Cornelius is on a constant quest to find ways to help the athletes he coaches improve. To win medals.