In sport, where comparisons are inevitable, Stephen Mokoka’s debut in the TotalSports Two Oceans Marathon ultra was always going to evoke memories of the event’s legend — the late Zithulele Sinqe.
The discerning road running follower would know that Mokoka is married to the daughter of the legendary distance runner who won the 56km Mother City race on two successive occasions and finished second the third time from 1996 t0 1998.
Can Mokoka emulate his father in law and win the race that rightly has the moniker of ‘The World’s Most Beautiful Marathon’ as a novice? After all the 39-year-old’s domination of the South African Marathon scene has had many likening him to Sinqe who has been a national marathon champion and half marathon champion more than once.
The reality is that as much as he is the race favourite given he would likely toe the start line boasting the fastest marathon time of 2:06:42, the man they fondly call Tshipi (Steel) will be in Cape Town to prepare for a second attempt of the Olympics marathon at the upcoming Games in Paris. He is, however, a highly competitive athlete and so rule out a victory for the Hollywood Athletics Club star at your own peril.
But are the comparisons justifiable? Is Mokoka anything like the late ‘Bra Zet’ who is roundly acknowledged as one of the all-time greatest distance runners ever produced by South Africa? Or are we just burdening a runner in the twilight of his career by measuring him up to a legend just because they are related through marriage?
No one would know the answer to these questions better than the woman close to both men — Sinqe’s daughter and Mokaka’s wife Zintle.
“Oh, the comparisons between Stephen and my dad... Even I see those similarities. But it is not like what they say — that a girl looks for her father in the man she chooses to marry. I think it was just a coincidence,” Zintle chuckles “But yes, they are similar in a number of ways. Their backgrounds are more or less the same. Just like my father, Stephen had to start looking after himself from a very young age. And they both come from really humble backgrounds. Both worked hard to get to where they did.”
So it is not just in running where Mokoka reminds Zintle of her father?
“Personality wise, they are different because my father was an extrovert and my husband is much more reserved. But both are big dreamers and very supportive. I am lucky that way to have had two very supportive men in my life.”
Though she was fairly young when her father was at the peak of his career winning races such as the Two Oceans, Zintle has some ‘vague memories’.
“I think I was nine years old when he won Two Oceans and all I remember is us — my mom, my dad, my brother and I, driving down (to Cape Town) with the Goldfields crew in a caravan was us going to Cape Town. I have memories of us stopping along the route to get drinks and snacks, and it just being a happy trip.”
As for the race, Zintle just recalls ‘daddy bringing back a medal’ but she had no clue what had happened. She has fond memories of picking up shells by the beach though.
“One thing I recall from his running career is that my mom used to support him on his long training runs and would take my brother and I with him and we would give him a bottle that my brother called ‘idamu ya tata’ (daddy’s dummy). I also remember that on wall in the passage of my mom’s house, there were all these framed pictures of his achievements and there was a Two Oceans one that had the years 1996, 1997 and 1998. Only later when I grew up did I understand what they were for.”
Sinqe, though extroverted as per her daughter, was not one to blow his own trumpet.
“He never spoke about his accolades and achievements. But what should have given it away for me (that he was a great athlete) was how he would speak about how important it was for us young athletes to not be content with just being a local hero but rather strive to be someone who can compete abroad. He loved to say to me ‘don’t compare yourself with South Africa, compare yourself with the world — look outside the borders of South Africa. He would say a lot of things, like ‘when we ran they did not pay like they do now.’ But to me it did not ring a bell because he was just utata (daddy) to me.”
The penny as to just how great her father was dropped for Zintle after his old man joined the dearly departed.
“Only when he passed away did I realise how great an athlete he was when people spoke about him and his achievement. One man once said to me your father was like the Mandela of running. And after that, seeing things such as the Comrades gold medal, the clothes from the 1992 Olympics, the Springbok blazer at home made me realise just how great he was. I’d previously seen them, but I did not get it.”
Her husband has kind of followed the same path and like her mother did for her father, Zintle has been supportive of Stephen Mokoka as he built himself into being a great of South African running with appearances at continental and world championships as well as the Olympics.
“I support him where I feel I should, but I think he knows what he is doing. In terms of his work he does not only do the work on the track or the road but at home too. He researches and there’s a reason behind the things he does. He does his homework, he is very analytical and I make comments when and where he asks me to sort of come in and support, like if he needs help with going to long runs and seconding. But I think he has got everything on lockdown, I don’t interfere that much.”
The Mokokas now have a seven month old baby, and as such, Zintle will not be going down to Cape Town this weekend for her husband’s Two Oceans ultra debut.
She will be watching on the telly though, hoping that her husband emulates her father.
“Of course, it would be nice if he wins it. But the race is part of his training for the Olympics,” says Zintle who would rather her husband had waited a bit before taking on the 56km race.
“I honestly feel he went sooner than I thought he would. There’s still that part of me that feels her he must be careful to avoid injuries because it (the 56km) is something new. He is a hard worker and I feel he has been training too hard. Sometimes he would train three times a day and I’d say to him ‘dude, slow down’. And then I remember that my father would sometimes train four times a day too.”
So the comparisons between Mokoka and Zinqe are not misplaced then. And the expectations that he would win the Two Oceans on debut are not misplaced.
IOL Sport