Olympics
Exclusive: Simone Kruger has all the tools to have more golden moments for team South Africa
At just 19, Simone Kruger shines with gold at the Paris 2024 Paralympics. The South African discus thrower reflects on her journey, Tokyo lessons, and balancing athletics for future milestones
Fiona Goodall/Getty Images for PNZ
Simone Kruger has reached greater heights early in her career, and her achievement at the recently concluded Paris Paralympic Games 2024 showcased her talent and the promise she carries into the future.
Growing from strength to strength
The 19-year-old discus thrower won one of two gold medals for team South Africa in Paris, and she looks set to reach a lot more milestones in the green and gold of South Africa leading up to the LA Games.
South Africa took a fairly young team to this year’s Games after some of the medal-winning athletes from previous years moved on. They managed to collect a total tally of six medals (two gold and four bronze medals), one less than Tokyo.
In her early career, while some of her peers were still navigating their way to the final years of their high school lives, 16-year-old teenager Kruger carried the hopes of her country in her debut appearance at the global showpiece.
The COVID-19-hit Tokyo Games is where she got some of her biggest lessons, and despite being young in age, she carried a lot of potential then, and it was the learnings taken from those Games that played a pivotal role in her continued development.
“Tokyo helped me prepare for Paris because I had to learn a lot of lessons,” Kruger told Sportsboom.com.
“But I do try to learn a lot in all my international competitions. The 2020 Summer Paralympics were my biggest learning curve. If Tokyo hadn’t happened, I wouldn't have been as prepared for Paris this year.”
My expectations heading to the games were that I was going to break the world record and bring the gold medal back home.
Simone Kruger
“I think the hard work was already put in when we got to Paris, but it also came with a lot of pressure because I came back from World Championships earlier in the year already having broken the world record with a gold medal win.”
“My expectations were just as high, and it was amazing to see it happen again, and even though it wasn't a world record but a Paralympic record, it was still just as amazing.”
Finding the balance
The Pretoria-born athlete has also won three medals (two gold and one silver medal) from the World Championship between 2019 and 2024, and she could be in line to also participate in the shot-put events in the future.
In preparation, the 19-year-old challenges herself by competing and training with able-bodied athletes, as it gives her the edge when she comes up against her competitors.
“It is easy for me to strike a balance between the two events; I do not have an event for shot put at the World Championships and Paralympics; my technique works well for both; I just have to make small changes. You can do both, but you need to be clear and use your energy wisely because it takes a lot.”
It helps me a lot (to compete with able-bodied athletes). I started doing it from school sports, and I think it was one of the reasons when I started Para Athletics, I was already in a good place for such a young age
Simone Kruger
“I still participate in able-bodied sports, and it pushes me to work harder because I don't necessarily have a lot of competition in South Africa, and I use that as my competition.”
The winning moment
Speaking about her moment of glory, Kruger had to dig deep against tough competition from China’s Li Yingli, who secured the silver medal with a throw of 38.64, and Colombia’s Xiomara Saldarriaga, who completed the podium with a throw of 38.36.
But the South African’s effort of 38.70 was enough to secure gold in the Women’s F38 discus throwing final.
“I was stressed until the complete end; even before the last throw, the athlete that was before me threw over six meters from my distance; it was a really tough competition.”
“The moment I threw a gold medal-winning throw and got confirmation that I had won, it was a different story. On my last throw, I was not focused on throwing further because I knew I had won, but I wanted to enjoy it because I knew I had it in the bag. It was the most amazing night of my life.”
Obakeng - A passionate sports fan at heart that had a dream to be a professional soccer player or cricketer. He was introduced into the world of MotoGP and Formula One by Brad Binder's dominant moto3 championship win and he has not looked back. He is able to live through his passion for sport through writing, and he is a sport writer for the Independent Newspapers in South Africa.