MARK ETHERIDGE: Little sister drives the hammer home

SA’s sporting “sisters of steel” are certainly hammering home their point in the athletics arena.

In March Leandri Holtzhausen bettered Phethisang Makhethe’s three-year old SA hammer throw record of 65.40m when she threw 67.95m at a grand prix meeting in Tshwane.

That record stood for just two months before Makhethe wrested it back with a 68.66m effort at the Big 10 Championships in Eugene, Oregon, US last week.

The 22-year-old, a psychology student at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), certainly has hammer throwing in  her family; big brother Tshepang is a former national champion.

What’s more she hails from Sasolburg and says she went to the same AJ Jacobs primary school as former Springbok rugby captain Francois Pienaar and then on to HTS Sasolburg where her brother and SA hammer legend Chris Harmse (23 consecutive national titles) plied their trade.

“I’m born and bred in Sasolburg and have always been rooted in sport,” Makhethe says from Illinois. “My dad played soccer and my mom volleyball and then I must say — without Tshepang [brother] there wouldn’t be a Phethisang!

“Netball was my first go-to sport ... I was that antisocial kid and it was sport that helped me make friends and learn to communicate better. I did quite a few field events except for running — running and I just don’t get on,” she says with a chuckle.

Makhethe started with hammer throw at 12 when her brother went to Oregon for the U20 world championships. “It was then that I thought ‘if he could do it why not me’. So when he went to training, he didn’t want to leave me at home alone so I went along and started replicating what he did. Apparently the coach saw I had potential and told Tshepang.”

Things then moved swiftly for Makhethe; soon there was a silver medal at African Youth Games in Algeria followed by gold at the African U18/20 championships in Ivory Coast.

We’re very competitive — I’ve won the most titles so far, the kicker is that I’ve never won an African title, and believe you me, I never hear the end of it.

After the Covid hiatus she set a national U20 record and US coaches started taking notice. Her go-to for advice has always been big brother Tshepang and the two of them decided on New Mexico State University as Tshepang saw there were quite a few SA athletes there.

She broke the SA record while at New Mexico but then got itchy feet and was snapped up by UIUC where renowned husband and wife coaches JC Lambert and hammer ace DeAnna Price are based.

There was family heartbreak to deal with in the background, though, after losing her aunt while at New Mexico and her grandmother not long after her move to Illinois.

In the build-up to her national hammer record Makhethe could see her shape was good when she threw a personal best 23.12m weight throw (a shorter-heavier indoor version of hammer) at NCAA Indoor Championships.

As for the record-breaking throw, she said her “body felt amazing” from the minute she woke up that day.

“I got some treatment to get the body loose and free of niggles. And even though the warm-ups didn’t go quite as planned they went pretty deep — 66m or so, it just felt like it was a good day.”

Her first throw was just over 66m, indicating to her that there was still lots in the tank. “My second and third throws were just over 65m and coach JC came and had a chat before they reordered us and I was second last to throw.”

Her fourth and fifth efforts were both no-throws but the coach was calm and confident, telling her that they’d talked about this for a long time and she should just do what she did in practice.

“In my final throw as soon as the hammer left my hands I knew we had either a 69m or at least a 68.5m effort and when I heard it was a 68.66m I just felt a huge sense of relief.”

Looking beyond the cage, Makhethe says she’s still trying to make it to the Summer World University Games in July and then qualify for the World Athletics Championships in September.

“And then obviously the 2028 Olympics but I have to thank everyone for this record ... it wasn’t mine alone. Thanks to former teachers, principals, coaches, training mates, teammates, family — I’m grateful to everyone of them!”

Final words go to big brother Tshepang: “She’d been begging me to go to hammer practice and to be honest ever since then we’ve been super inseparable. Basie Koen coached us both at high school.

“There were no black kids doing hammer throw and suddenly there were two from the same family!

“We’re very competitive — I’ve won the most titles so far, the kicker is that I’ve never won an African title, and believe you me, I never hear the end of it,” he says, laughing.

He confirms her personality, saying “she’s super-super introverted but when she’s with me she’s the opposite.”

“It’s been a bit of a dual goal to be part of the same team at a big event so who knows, maybe the Commonwealth Games next year or the LA Olympics. But right now she’s my baby sister, I love her to bits and am really happy she got the SA record back again.”