As SA celebrates Youth Day on Friday it is absolutely fitting that a rising SA track star who first shone brightly at the African Youth Games in 2014 is setting the track alight in June.
That young women in the spotlight is Taylon Bieldt, whose first major title came when she won the 100m hurdles at the African Youth Games in Botswana nine years ago.
That success saw her going on to represent SA at the Youth Olympics in Nanjing, China later that year and she has since medalled at a host of major international competitions both on the continent and around the globe.
This month has been special though. Now based in Europe for a few weeks, on June 4 she set an SA record in the 100m hurdles, winning her event at the 2º Meeting Citta’ Di Lucca in Italy.
She stopped the clock at 12.76sec, clipping 0.05 off the previous mark held by Rikenette Steenkamp (now Avenant, who coincidentally announced her retirement from the sport this week after an illustrious career).
Then, on Tuesday evening, racing the popular Paavo Nurmi Games in Turku, Finland, Bieldt ended fourth in the 400m hurdles in a personal best of 54.91sec.
So it’s been a great week for the Pretoria powerhouse.
But she will never forget how important the youth section of her now-burgeoning career was. “I have such fond memories of the African Youth Games ... they were my first big international event, at the age of 15.
“Getting exposure like that at such a young age gets one used to a certain high standard later in life. My first race in Botswana was the 100m hurdles where I won gold and I ran with Oluwatobiloba Amusan of Nigeria who came second.
“Now she’s a world and Commonwealth Games champion. So whenever I see her now, it’s special. We congratulate each other and watch/support each other on our journeys. At last year’s world champs in Oregon, US, we embraced each other after the semifinals and I know how hard she has worked for her success and that Botswana 2014 was also a stepping stone to all that she’s achieved.”
Now that Bieldt’s a bit wiser and street-smart — she is studying for her master’s in Management and Entrepreneurship at Tshwane University of Technology — she’s got used to multitask to the highest degree.
“The transition from youth to junior to senior ... it’s tough and as you get older your priorities change. You also have an off-track life, there’s a lot of study involved.
“But thankfully I’ve got great support from family and friends to keep on pursuing track ... it’s hard to keep going year by year, there’s a bunch of off-track things that we have to take care of but we’re managing.
“I’m so grateful for the SA record because I know how hard that is to overcome all the obstacles.”
She says the record, while hugely satisfying, was more part of a process. “When you’re trying to make a career out of track you look at the bigger picture so for me it was to constantly keep improving ... initially the SA record was something I wanted but it’s not my main goal ... that was also part of improving and it’s another box I can tick off.”
So her newly set record may serve as confirmation that she is indeed on the right track but she’s all too aware that the “job” is just getting started.
“I’m hugely excited for both the season ahead and the rest of my career. The latest success is a reflection of all those years of preparation I put in.”
Off her actual record run, she knew she had it in her legs. “I believed it was possible but of course I’d never run that fast so it was very special to cross the line and see that time on the board.”
Unlike many athletes who celebrate success with something like “junk-food” Bieldt does things the other way around. “I believe in rewarding myself before I run a big race so I’d eat a chocolate the evening before I race as a way of thanking myself for the effort that I know I'm going to put in.”
The 24-year-old product of Hoërskool Montana in Pretoria has always been coached by her mom, Charmaine du Toit, herself a fine athlete in both her youth and later life — being a 400m gold medallist in the World Masters Games in Australia just over a decade ago.
“She grew up alongside the field from a very young age ... she was a really tiny kid, but I taught her hurdling from early. She was so short but then at 15-16 she suddenly shot up but of course she picked up quite a few injuries in the process.”
And she says that training Taylon is a pleasure. “We used to bump heads a bit in the earlier years and then more lately as she juggled between the 100 and 400m hurdles, but I’ve learnt to value her input and listen to her and it’s very much a give-and-take experience.”
Mom says daughter is now probably the most disciplined athlete in her group. Charmaine trains a whole range of age groups (in athletics and hockey) and laughs that she’s now “coaching children of the athletes that I used to coach ... it’s so lovely that 20 years later they bring their kids back to me!”
Harping on the youth month theme, Du Toit says her daughter is making the world of difference. “The last two seasons I’ve brought her on board and she takes the youngsters to gym a few times a week and whenever she’s around she makes an impact.
“Both the high-school and younger kids hang on every word she says, they all work so well together.”
June has already been a big chocolate month for Taylon but the fact that she’s taking time to put back into the next generation makes youth month just that much sweeter!
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