Getting the javelin to fly 70 metres through the air and to "jol" are the goals Sunette Viljoen set herself over the next 52 weeks. 

This, too many, might not sound like a contradiction. Sport is, after all, about dedication and discipline. The former Tuks athlete has already planned as to how she is going to balance things. 

Viljoen has moved to Stellenbosch to coach at Bloemhof Meisieskool. But that is only half of it. She has also started an Athletics Academy. The aim is to teach kids between the ages of six and ten the essential skills that are required in athletics. 

Still, that is not all. Viljoen is serious about having a good "jol". 

"I really want to make a difference in the lives of kids. It is my passion. That is why once a week, I intend to go to the more impoverished communities in the Western Cape to "jol" with the kids. 

"We are going to do fun things like kicking a ball. Playing 'touchies'. Run and jump. For that hour or so, the kids should be kids and forget about everything else. It is going to relax me also. I am after all a 'kid in a grownup's body.

"The most important thing through all this interaction with the kids is to make them understand that anything is possible if you are committed to doing the hard work. Success does not just happen. You got to work for it." 

Viljoen believes in what she says. 

"Next year I will be 38. Every so often, someone would ask why I don't retire as a professional athlete as I basically achieved everything I set out to do. Age, to me, is irrelevant. I know what I know.

"Ever since I had thrown the javelin for the first time, my goal was to become an Olympic champion. I still believe it to be possible. I know that I have not yet thrown that big one . . . the seventy-plus metre throw. 

"I wake up every day with a drive to try and break 70 metres. That is what keeps me going. I will know when that 'flame' to be the best has burnt out."

According to Viljoen, the one good thing that came about from the Covid-19 pandemic is that she had time to entirely recover from a back injury.

The next two years could be the most exciting of Viljoen's career. She hopes to medal at the Tokyo Olympic Games breaking 70 metres, to win a medal at a World Championships again as well as the Commonwealth Games. 

For now, the plan is to put her javelin away for good at the end of 2022, but it won't mean her days as a competitor is over. 

"Once I have retired as an athlete, the aim will be to try and play for the South African women's cricket team again. I recently faced a few balls in the cricket nets at Jeffreys Bay. It made me realise how much I miss playing cricket."

Viljoen played 27 ODIs and a Test match against India for South Africa.

Viljoen's athletics statistics are awe-inspiring. Her best throw of 69.35m places her sixth on the World Athletics all-time list. She won a silver medal at the 2016 Olympic Games as well as a silver at the 2011 Daegu World Championships. In 2015 in Beijing she won a bronze medal. Viljoen has four Commonwealth Games medals (2 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze) to her name.