Athletics provided the country's only medal winner in Beijing earlier this year when Khotso Mokoena finished second in the long jump.

 

Athletics South Africa (ASA) high performance co-ordinator Wilfred Daniels said at a training camp in Pretoria that they were looking to at least improve on athletics’ best Olympic performance to date.

 

One key to success, he revealed, will be the scientific testing that 22 athletes, including senior and junior stars such as Mokoena and world junior 100 metres silver medallist Wilhelm van der Vyver, underwent at the high-performance centre last week.

 

It will be part of a monitoring programme to be conducted every six weeks.

 

Daniels said: “With the talent we have at our disposal and the test results we see, it could be our best result ever in terms of the track and field team.

 

“We don’t want to put out numbers, but we need to show results better than Sydney.”

 

ASA have already drawn up a 45-week schedule leading up to the 2009 World Championships in Berlin from August 15-23.

 

The rota shows when athletes will be tested, and when they will train and compete.

 

Middle-distance runner Juan van Deventer, one of only four SA athletes who qualified for finals in Beijing, said he was found wanting when it came to flexibility.

 

The 1500m runner, undergoing the tests for the first time, was told his hamstrings were too tight, causing his stride to shorten and possibly costing him speed, especially at the death of a race.

 

Van Denvter said: “They said I’m shuffling rather than striding."

 

Ruben Ramolefi, who made his first top international 3,000m steeplechase final in Beijing, said the tests had shown an overall improvement.

 

There is a growing call in South Africa to prioritise Olympic sports, by choosing only a few codes that will enjoy massive financial support.

 

One discipline that seems under threat is sprinting, but Leigh Julius, a 200m specialist, believes people should give up on them just yet.

 

He said: “There are a lot of talented sprinters.

 

"We just need to get to the international level.

 

"I hope an South African sprinter will soon break 10 seconds for the 100m.”

 

South Africa made its Olympic debut in 1904 in St Louis but was banned after the 1960 Games because of its Government's apartheid policies.

 

They were re-admitted into the Games in Barcelona in 1992, where Elana Meyer finished second in the 10,000m.

 

The athletics team have only ever won six gold medals, most recently when Thugwane unexpectedly claimed victory at the marathon in Atlanta in 1996.