I'm no nearly man, says Simbine

IN-FORM South African sprinter Akani Simbine insists he is no "nearly man", despite missing out on a podium finish in the men’s 100m at the last three Olympics by a combined total of just eight-hundredths of a second.

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The 31-year-old finished fifth at the 2016 Rio Olympics before placing fourth at both the 2020 Tokyo and 2024 Paris Games.

While he was three-hundredths of a second off the pace in Rio and four-hundredths away in Tokyo, he missed out on an individual Olympic medal in the French capital to Fred Kerley by just one-hundredth of a second.

His appearances at the World Championships have seen him place fifth (2017), fourth (2019), and fifth (2022) in the 100m.

Simbine eventually bagged a global medal by anchoring South Africa to Olympic silver in the 4x100m relay in Paris.

He followed that up with a World Indoor bronze over 60m in Nanjing in March — a result that kick-started his season. Since then, he has recorded three wins over 100m, including at the first two Diamond League meetings in China.

“People say that I'm the nearly man —I dontsee it like that,’ Simbine said, ahead of this weekend’s World Relays in Guangzhou.