It may be too early to start thinking about New Year's resolutions and setting goals for 2024, but the long jumper Jovan van Vuuren already knows what he will do.

The Tuks student-athlete plans to go big in 2024, or, more accurately, far. If he gets it right, there is a chance he could medal at the World Indoor Championships, regain the South African long jump title, and compete at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in France.

Van Vuuren has good reason for already setting his goals. This year, he learned that a sports career can end at anytime.

In March, his doctor told Van Vuuren that he had close to zero chances of ever competing at the highest level. His right hamstring tendon was on the verge of snapping. If it did, he would have had to undergo an operation, and there were no guarantees. He could have ended up walking with a limp for the rest of his life.

The Tuks student-athlete refused to give up on his dreams. With the support of Neil du Plessis (strength and conditioning coach), Greyling Viljoen (clinical psychologist), Steven Ball (TuksSport Director & Acting CEO of hpc), and everyone at Power2Health and PVM he started an intensive rehabilitation program.

In July, he got the good news that his tendon was healing. He got the green light two months ago to train on the track again. He even started jumping again. This experience has taught Van Vuuren not to take anything for granted ever again. 

"To me, 2023 will always be the what-if year. I can't help but wonder what I could have achieved if I had not gotten injured. The one thing I now know about sports is that there is no tomorrow. That is why, in 2024, I will live in the moment. I will give 100% to achieve every goal I set," said Van Vuuren, who won bronze during the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games.

According to Van Vuuren, he genuinely missed being at the Bestmed TuksAthletics Stadium track, pushing himself to the limits.

"The first day I stepped onto the track to train, I got an idea of what a caged dog must feel like when it is released to run. It was good to catch up with athletes and learn how their training has been going. I love the on-track athletic banter.

"My training has been going well. It is because of my coach, Neil Cornelius. He is a hard taskmaster but also knows how to reign me in when I get overexcited and risk overdoing things. I don't remember when I was in such good physical shape. My body fat is at an all-time low. 

"I decided to compete indoors because I need to regain my confidence when competing. If everything goes according to plan, I will be off to Europe at the end of January. The ultimate goal would be to qualify for the World Indoor Championships. If I do, the goal would be to medal. As far as I know, Khotso Mokoena and Luvo Manyonga are the only South African long jumpers to medal at the Indoor Championships."

Mokoena was the indoor champion in 2008 and won silver in 2010. Manyonga won silver in 2018.

Interesting Fact: Since 2018, Van Vuuren has improved his best performance by 61 cm (7.55 m) to 8.16 m in 2022.