Irvette van Zyl on quest to end Olympic marathon disappointment in Paris

The 36-year-old has been unable to complete the 42.2km marathon in London 2012, Rio de Janeiro 2016, nor Tokyo 2020, withdrawing each time due to injury. 

However, she is optimistic of changing her fortunes at the upcoming Paris Games, where her primary goal this time is to finish the marathon, regardless of her final position.

"For Olympics, I think I'm the person that has tried to achieve an Olympic marathon finish for the longest time, but I'm definitely trying to do stuff differently this year, so that I don't push myself too much in the red," said van Zyl.

"Of course you have to train hard, I take the Olympics really seriously, but there's a fine line between running PBs in training and just stopping yourself before you do that.

"So, I'm just being more considerate in my training and I'm not doing high mileage, I'm doing selective sessions that will hopefully help me to be an Olympian.

"It's really nice to say I'm going for Olympics, but I really want a finish, and if I can do well then that will be a bonus."

Van Zyl does take motivation in having completed a marathon at the World Championships in Budapest, Hungary last year, although finishing an Olympic marathon would be an even greater achievement for her.

"But I think what helped last year was the World Champs, with the anxiety I had preparing for that and just coming to race day and being – that was a huge stepping stone for me towards this year's Olympics," said van Zyl.

"I thought maybe its because my body can't handle that much pressure, and that was perhaps why the injuries happened, especially at Olympics.

"But last year I wasn't really the fittest going into World Champs, and I showed myself that I can start and finish a major championship, so I'm really using that confidence going into this year's [Olympic] race."