Adnaan Mohamed at Adidas House in Paris
Paris – It’s seldom that siblings get to represent their country in two different sporting codes at the same Olympic Games.
The brothers Dayaan and Mustapha Cassiem had the honour of representing Team South Africa’s men’s hockey team in Paris.
However Kayla Swarts (21, field hockey) describes her experience with her brother Wayde van Niekerk (32, track athlete) as special.
Swarts was only 13 years old when she experienced the euphoria of her brother lighting up the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro with his audacious win from lane eight.
She watched in awe how big brother Wayde obliterated the legendary Michael Johnson’s 400m world record to claim his maiden Olympic title clocking a blistering 43:03. Her passion for the Games was ignited right there.
“Once I was there in the stadium, watching him that day break the record and seeing how ecstatic my family was and just the feeling that I experienced, I was like, ‘Oh my, I hope one day I also get to feel this and have my family come to watch me, it would be so cool for me,” Swarts said in an interview with Olympics.com.
“And now that it’s real, it’s crazy because that was just a few years ago and I was looking at my brother like, ‘oh my word, Wayde, you are so cool!’ And now I am in those same shoes.”
Swarts described her time in Paris as a surreal experience, being at her first Olympics, seeing the Village for the first time surrounded by athletes that she has looked up to her whole life.
“I really enjoyed my time in Paris, especially sharing the experience with my brother. We both came here not only to participate but to compete the best as we could do,” Swarts said in an interview on the terrace at the top of their sponsor’s building – Adidas House in the centre of Paris.
