13 August 2004

The remarkable thing about an Olympic team is the contrast that exists among competitors. Take two of the "babies" (debutants) in South Africa's squad for Athens: 17-year-old gymnast Stephanie Sandler and 35-year-old shottist Martin Senore.

Sandler weighs in at 36kg and pursues a mix of shape, form, poise and balance as a rhythmic gymnast. Her focus on the physical is as keen as the mental application of shottist Senore, who at 35 carries a slight boep (belly) and weighs in at about 90kg.

Sandler and Senore appear poles apart - but as Olympians they share the pursuit of excellence.

Occupying space 'like a feather'
"It's been physically demanding, but an awesome experience getting into the Olympic team", says Sandler. "These are my first Olympics, and I'm hoping to finish twentieth and use the experience to build up for Beijing in 2008."

Olympic Team South Africa Meet the men and women who'll be swimming, cycling, boxing, fencing, rowing, running, wrestling ... trying for SA at Athens 2004.

Sandler, who started gymnastics in Cape town at the age of five, occupies space like a feather, but has overcome some times that have toughened her. "My folks gave up everything in 2001 to move from Cape Town to Johannesburg so I could be coached by Maureen van Rooyen", Sandler said.

"Right from the start it was tough. In the first week my dad's car was stolen from the driveway, then a couple of days later they broke into our flat and cleaned us out. My folks were happy in Cape Town, and my mom just wanted to go back.

"But they persevered for me and things slowly came right ... Without their sacrifice I would not be in the team now. If we'd gone back, I would have given up and followed a normal life and watched the Olympics on TV."

Sandler qualified for Athens 2004 when she became Africa's top rhythmic gymnast at the world championships in Budapest last September. She trains four hours a day, and specialises in apparatus and ribbons.

"I just squeezed into the SA team as the weakest member, and I just love the challenge", Sandler said. "I came out as the best in Africa, and that's the difference Maureen's coaching has made."

Sharpshooter Martin Senore. (Photo: International Shooting Sport News) Shooting 'all about mental focus'
By contrast, Senore, making his Olympic debut at 35, has double the competitive lifespan of the young gymnast.

"Shottists are known for their longevity", Senore commented. "The Norwegian Harold Stenwarg shot a bronze medal in Sydney aged 63. The oldest world championship medal winner was a 73-year-old who shot a bronze.

"There were guys younger than me at the training camp who are retiring after Athens, and here I am, the almost-middle-aged 'baby' of the team with maybe five Olympics ahead of me", Senore said.

Senore says matter-of-factly that with a long-range rifle he could put a bullet through your head from 1 500m. But he won't shoot further than 50 metres in Athens, where he will go for a medal in the prone position with a .22 rifle.

"Shooting is 95 percent a mental sport", says the electronic engineer from Rustenburg in North West province. "The concentration is fierce. You lie for one hour and fifteen minutes, and it's all about focus."

Competitors get 60 shots to count for 10 points each. Senore shot an African record 597 out of 600 in Munich last year. His best is 598 points at the Gauteng champs, but the final was undercover, where the rules are slightly different.

Senore, who practises an hour every weekday and 16 hours on weekends, stresses that you don't shoot those kinds of scores unless your ammunition is perfect. That's why Nocsa sent him to Eley in England to buy 15 000 rounds of the best .22 ammunition money can buy.

"The good ammo can make a difference of up to 8mm in a grouping", Senore says. "Now I have enough ammo to see me through 5 000 rounds a month in training and competition, with enough left over for Athens.

"I hope to bring back a medal, but it won't be easy. The competition is very tough. People think that the prone position is the easiest because you are lying down, but it's in fact the hardest because of the amount of time spent in competition.

"Standing and sitting is like sprinting, but in the prone position you enter the world of endurance."

Source: National Olympic Committee of South Africa

	17-year-old rhythmic gymnast Stephanie Sandler is one of the 'babies' in the squad (Photo: National Olympic Committee of South Africa)

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	National Olympic Committee of SA  Athens 2004 Olympic Games