Being talented can sometimes also be a burden, especially if you are a young South African athlete.

Since 2012 not a year has gone by without Duwayne Boer winning a South African title as a long jumper. In 2012 he was the youth champion; 2013-2014 the junior champion and this year he is the SA Students and SA Under-23 champion.

He is also a more than capable triple jumper who has won gold, silver and bronze medals at the various national championships during the past four years.

It should, therefore, be no surprise that he is ranked among the top ten on the all-time list for South African junior and youth athletes, in the long jump as well as the triple jump.  He has also represented South Africa at both the youth and junior world championships.

This season the 20-year-old Boer qualified to represent South Africa at the World University Games (3-14 July) in Gwangju, South Korea, but eventually he was not selected.

The Tuks/HPC athlete is far from being despondent about his non-selection.  He is, in fact, quite relieved.

“I have picked up a few injury niggles over the past few years which have become a constant handicap because there was never enough time for them to fully recover. The fact that I am not going to the Student Games means that I will finally have time to do proper rehabilitation and sort out the little flaws in my technique. It is important to be at my best next year because of the Olympics.”

Neil Cornelius (coach) agrees that the next seven months of uninterrupted training might be the best for Boer.

“I have no doubt that he will be a better athlete next year after taking a break from international competitions. It certainly has not been a bad season for Duwayne. He won two South African titles and, to the best of my knowledge, he is one of only a few athletes who were able to win their specialist events at both Varsity Cup meetings.”

He attributes Boer’s success to two factors, namely absolute dedication and unfaltering discipline.

Cornelius beams with pride: “Duwayne almost never misses a training session. Something really drastic has to happen for him not to train.”

The challenge for any long jumper who is serious about his sport is to jump farther than eight metres.

“I never think about distances while I am competing, because it is a certain way to put pressure on oneself.  I know I am capable of jumping farther than eight metres, but it will happen when it is meant to happen.  In the meantime I just focus on doing the basics right,” said Boer whose best distance so far is 7.89 metres.

Boer intends to continue competing in triple jump as well, but his main goal will always be to succeed as a long jumper.

“For me triple jump is a fun event, something I do to take me out of my comfort zone.”