LJ (Louis) Van Zyl





Team Visa CEMEA Hopeful

Date of birth: 20/07/85
Sport: 400m & 400m Hurdles
Hometown: Pretoria
Languages: Afrikaans, English

Achievements to date:

Internationals:

2008
South African National Championships – 1st
IAAF Golden League Grand Prix, Oslo – 3rd
IAAF Golden League Grand Prix, Athens – 1st

2007
All Africa Games 2007, Algiers: 1x Gold (400m hurdles)

2006
World Athletics Final 2006, Stuttgart: 1x Silver (400m hurdles)
Commonwealth Games 2006, Melbourne: 1x Gold (400m hurdles). 1x Silver (4x400m hurdles relay)
World Cup 2006, Athens: 1x Silver (400m hurdles)

2005
World Championships 2005, Helsinki: 6th (400m hurdles)
World Athletics Final 2005, Monte Carlo: 1x

2004
World Junior Championships, Grosseto, Italy: 1x Bronze (4x 400m hurdles relay), 4th (400m hurdles)

2002
World Junior Championships, Kingston, Jamaica: 1x Gold (400m hurdles) 		  Born July 20th 1985, L.J is a leading South African athlete who competes in the 400 metre hurdles.

Becoming the 400m hurdles World Junior Champion on the eve of his 16th birthday was a major highlight for LJ and gave him the motivation to go on to participate at a senior level.

His international breakthrough came at the World Athletics Final in 2005, where he finished third.

The next year he won a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games with a new personal best time of 48.05 seconds (and a Commonwealth record that still stands today). He also contributed to the Rainbow Nation’s team silver win in 4x400m relay behind Australia.

At the end of 2007, LJ’s coach left him to take up a new role with the Saudi Arabian team, so he has joined Nico Van Heerden’s training camp at the University of Pretoria. Since joining he has been extremely happy with his progress.

2008 so far has been a mixed year for LJ. He started the year well with 2 victories at a charity event in distances he is not used to (200m & 300m hurdles).

Throughout the South African summer athletics meetings, LJ’s form had been up and down, but his result at the African National Championships in May saw him perform superbly and win himself a place in the South African Olympic team.

The Qatar Athletic Super Grand Prix in Doha (10th of May) saw LJ take Gold in a time of 49.03 ahead of Jamaicans Danny McFarlane.

Next up was the first IAAF Golden League event of the season in Berlin (1st of June) where LJ placed fourth in a time of 49.43.

He fared better at the next leg in Oslo, achieving a Silver medal with a time of 48.84 sec.

In Rome, at the third stage of the competition, LJ narrowly missed a medal by finishing in fourth position. He made up for this with a stellar result in Athens where he claimed Gold against a strong field.

L.J is currently studying to become a teacher at the University of Pretoria.