Mhlongo is living his dream at his third Games

MPUMELELO Mhlongo is living his dream and through the reality of it all, he wants to take South Africa to great heights when he takes to the track at the Paris Paralympic Games.

The Durban-born long jumper and sprinter is one half of team South Africa’s flag bearers alongside double world champion swimmer Kat Swanepoel at the Paris Games.

Mhlongo is making his third appearance at the Games, and after having narrowly missed out on the medals at the Tokyo Games after an impressive showing in the heats, the 30-year-old has his sights set on a performance worth gold.

Mhlongo finished fifth in the finals of the men’s T44 long jump and T44 100m respectively, and he made his way to Paris on the back of a Para World Championships gold medal in Kobe, Japan, in May.

Following Tokyo 2020, and having broken the T44 200m world record and also the T44 200m, 100m and long jump Paralympic records, Mhlongo is excited about the prospects that Paris 2024 brings.

“It’s overwhelming and gives goosebumps to think a child that never dreamt of such things got to live it out in reality,” he said in an interview with Independent Newspapers.

“You go out never really dreaming of such privileged opportunities, and being at the helm after being called by the Republic of South Africa to be in front of the world to welcome the Paralympians to the world stage is exciting.”

“The pressure at the world stage is more about sporting events than the livelihood, and it’s really equivalent.

“Yes, we are the Paralympic and world record holders in some of the events, but none of it comes with an overwhelming feeling, but rather the excitement that we have placed South Africa into more history books on the global stage.”

“It is my third Paralympics. The biggest learning is that you need to enjoy the journey. Every Paralympic Games comes with different moments in one’s life, with all things being equal once you get to the Games.

“Everyone is hard-working, dedicated, resilient and disciplined, so it is the greatest mindset that is able to get past whatever barriers that happen in the race and ends up in that podium position.”

The 30-year-old was initially set to only compete in the T44 100m sprint and long jump, but there was a late addition of the 200m sprint to his schedule.

Despite his previous success in the two events, he maintains that the thrill he gets from the long jump takes preference, even though his biggest priority is to remain healthy after the Games.

“I’ll be doing three events, we added the 200m event as a late addition. You have to run to jump so people say it’s complimentary, but obviously in an ideal world I would specialise in one over the other.

“I prefer playing in the sand (long jump pit), but you end up being the world record holder in the sprint and that’s the crowd pleaser.

“My greatest goal at these Games will be to come out healthy, both mind and body. We know there is something special that our bodies can produce, it will be a matter of just showing the world what that looks like.”