“Supapiet” wins magnificent bronze in front of his family in cycling time trial

Pieter Du Preez receives his bronze medal for the H1 Individual time trial on day 7 of the 2024 Paris Paralympics Games at Clichy sur Bois on September 04, 2024 in Paris, France. (Photo by Roger Sedres/Gallo Images)

By Gary Lemke in Paris

4 Sep 2024

Three years ago Pieter du Preez’s family could not be in Tokyo to see him win gold. They were in Paris to see him take home bronze.

It’s a bronze medal that’s worth its weight in gold. Pieter du Preez’s ride to the podium in the H1 cycling time trial at the 2024 Paralympics on Wednesday was full of character and ultimately emotion as he crossed the finish line in 36min 7.05sec, in third place.

“Where’s Ilse?” he said on the way to the mixed zone where athletes meet the media after an event, before going back to the comparative comforts of the athletes’ tent and change-rooms.

Ilse, his wife and helper here in Paris, had been cheering on her man, the defending champion from Tokyo, metres from the arch over the finishing line that displays the electronic times.

She made her way through the crowds that had congregated along the railings in the finishing straight and made her way to him.

Son Pietman was also at the finish of the 14km time trial, in which Du Preez crossed the line after more than 35 minutes of hard graft. Neither wife nor son had been in Tokyo three years ago when the South African won gold at the Fuji Raceway circuit, due to the Covid-19 restrictions, but they were in Paris to share the moment.

It was understandably an emotional time for Du Preez who bravely faced the media from his racing position of lying on his back in his hand-cycle, a matter of centimetres from the floor and looking up at them.

Pieter du Preez with his bronze medal for the H1 Individual time trial in Paris. (Photo: Roger Sedres / Gallo Images)

What Du Preez could see is relative. When I wished him well after his Tokyo 2020 gold medal, I’d said: “See you in Paris.” His reply then shook me. “Maybe not… I’m going blind.”

Sure, it’s three years later and now Supapiet, as he has become known around the globe, was coming up against opposition that to the untrained eye could pass as H2 para-cyclists, who are slightly more functional than this H1 class.

However, one needs to have full faith in the classification system, which determines what categories para-athletes compete in across a range of disabilities and functionality.

Then there is the subject of sight.

“Got worse”

“It has definitely got worse,” said Illse of her husband. And Du Preez acknowledged as much afterwards.

“Before today I did tell you that I’m going blind. It affected me in terms of uncertainty in parts of the race. There were a couple of corners that I went into that I was uncertain about. I didn’t want to take too much risk, but at the same time I didn’t want to take too little risk. So, it was a fine balancing act.

“In the first part of the race I felt strong, but not ‘on fire’ strong. I came back stronger and felt that I was making inroads on the two in front of me on the final hill.

“There’s no way of knowing where we are in terms of time, which means it’s quite a lonely race, but I gave all that I had. It’s a bronze medal and that is surely something to celebrate.”

There is no question that a deteriorating vision cost Du Preez time along the way to winning that bronze, which was the third medal Team South Africa have secured at these Games.

The men’s quads wheelchair tennis double act of Donald Ramphadi and Lucas Sithole made it four shortly afterwards.

Fair result

Du Preez was in no mood to suggest that on the day the bronze medal wasn’t a fair result.

“I don’t want to take anything away from their achievement. Even the guys in fourth and fifth rode the race of their lives. The first two were just better than me on the day, I went as hard as I could.”

Italian Frabrizio Cornegliani won gold in 34min 50.34sec, about 1:16.60 faster than Du Preez.

When a Paralympian says they are taking things “day by day”, the statement is to be taken at face value. Some don’t even know whether they will be around to see the sun come up, while others don’t know if they will see the sun even if it does come up.

Du Preez has also been recovering after getting “a bit sick” three weeks ago. “It’s been a long journey, I’ve had a wishy-washy last month. I haven’t recovered completely so it’s been a bit of a mental game. I just hope that I’ve made South Africa happy.”

His 2024 Paralympics is not yet over, as the road race takes place on Thursday. However, Du Preez doesn’t have high expectations.

“It’s a mixture of H1s and H2s, and the latter have a lot more functionality. Put it this way: they would have to have an off day and we’d have to have the perfect day. I would never wish crashing on anyone, but they would need to crash for us to have any sort of chance.” DM

Gary Lemke is in Paris as part of Team SA

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“Got worse”

Fair result