Louzanne Coetzee guide Claus Kempen assures mental strength for Para Games

Coetzee, who competes in the 1 500m T11 as well as the Marathon T12 events, secured silver in the 1 500m and bronze in the marathon in Tokyo. 

She competes with two separate guides, Estean Badenhorst in the 1 500m and Claus in the marathon, and, speaking to SABC Sport, the latter believes Coetzee’s mental strength contributes to her doing well in the Games.

“At the end of the day, Louzanne adapts very well with regards to the fact that she's got totally different guides and also she's very different in how she prepares,” said Kempen.

“She does a lot of mental preparation for herself, obviously, she can't see so she has to visualise in her way and she's got a mental coach to help her do that as well. So, there's a lot of hard work going on in the background for Louzanne to be ready.”

“It's quite interesting because Louzanne has two guides, I'm more the one that would probably try and make jokes to get rid of the attention, while Estean is more of a strategic gentleman – he will focus on facts and analyse the competitors.

“I can't care about the competitors. I will look at what they are wearing and think, 'That's a nice kit,' and he will look at their physique.”

Coetzee also claimed bronze at the World Championships in the 1500m event in Japan earlier this year, and silver at the World Champs in Paris last year. 

Kempen says, for the preparations for the Games, they focused more on the middle distance event.

“She's very strong in the 1 500m and most of our preparations went into that. I'll make sure she eats a lot of pizza after the 1 500m and then we'll be well rested and have a – I'm calling it a relaxing run but we've got our plan,” he added.

“The marathon is really much more strategic and there's time to make plans, but a lot can go wrong, and a lot can go right, so we’ll focus on what we can do right to have a wonderful day.”

READ: Mhlongo focusing on mental health ahead of Paralympics