by Deji OgeyingboAkani Simbine and his romance with Global Championships
Track and field is a sport that is very well defined by an athlete’s ability to perform at global championships. The Olympics and World championships are the yardstick for this, and for the events that are determined by milliseconds such as the sprints, the margins for errors can define an athlete’s legacy.
Sometimes, it might be just not being good enough, or even coming unstuck, but if there is one thing you can’t fault South Africa’s sprinter Akani Simbine is that he’s always ready on the line. For nearly a decade, Simbine has been one of the fastest men on the planet. He has made every major final, lined up against the best, and come agonisingly close to a medal. But each time, he fell just short. Fourth place. Fifth place. Again and again. It was a pattern that followed him through the biggest races of his career.
That all changed in Nanjing. In the final of the 60 meters at the World Indoor Championships, Simbine ran 6.54 seconds. This time, it was enough. He crossed the line, looked up at the scoreboard, and saw what he had waited years to see. Bronze. His first global medal.
Simbine has been here before—on the biggest stages, in the biggest moments—only to leave empty-handed. The 2016 Olympics? Fifth. The 2017 World Championships? Fifth again. In 2019, he finished fourth. The heartbreak repeated at the 2021 and 2024 Olympics. He was always close, never quite there. In 2022, another fifth-place finish at the World Championships only added to the frustration. It was a cycle few athletes could endure.
Last year at the Paris Olympics was a bit of an anomaly. Despite him placing fourth in the final and missing out on a podium by the finest of margins in 0.01s, it just felt like the wheels always fall off for the Simbine. In Paris though, there seemed to be light at the end of the tunnel for him as he snagged the 4x100m Silver to take home his first global medal.
But it was never always going to be the same as an individual medal. There were whispers about him being the nearly man. Perhaps it might have gotten to a point where he felt it wouldn’t happen again. Simbine did keep at it. That has been his mantra.
“Never stop believing in yourself. Never stop believing in your dream that you had when you started running. I have been an athlete that has been running and making finals and just being placing fourth and always being out of the medal zone.
But Simbine kept going. He never made excuses. He never lost focus. While others came and went, he remained a fixture in the sprinting world. His speed was never in question. His work ethic was never doubted. Yet that one missing piece—a global medal—hung over him.
This was his first time competing over the indoors as he has typically never added it to his schedule. The 60m can be brutal as it leaves no chance for mistakes. A slow start, a stumble, the slightest hesitation, and it’s over. Simbine knew that all too well. In Nanjing, he got it right. The start was clean. The drive phase was strong. He held his form, pushed through the final strides, and leaned at the line. When the dust settled, he wasn’t fourth or fifth. He was third.
For some, a bronze medal might not seem like much. For Simbine, it means everything. It changes how people will remember his career. He is no longer the sprinter who came close but never made it. He is a global medalist. That title can never be taken away.
Simbine has never been one for big celebrations. He doesn’t talk much about what he deserves or what could have been. He simply moves on to the next race, the next goal. At 31, he still believes his biggest moment is ahead of him. The World Championships in Tokyo are only months away. The chase for gold continues.
But for now, he can take a breath. He can stand on the podium and know that after years of heartbreak, after all the times he walked away with nothing, he finally has something to show for it. And that, for Simbine, makes all the difference.
