MOKOKA Stephen

General
ALL ROUND DISTANCE RUNNER
He has competed internationally in cross-country, on the track and on the road, ranging from the 3000m event to full marathons. "The event I love the most is the 10,000m." (fisu.net 27 Aug 2019)

FINANCIAL GAIN HURTING TALENT
In 2018 and 2019 he claimed that personal motivation for financial gain was affecting the progress of South African distance runners, and appealed for more opportunities to work together in training camps. "We should spend [a] lot of time training, but we are doing the opposite. Most [South African] distance runners are doing more road running events because of money and neglect cross-country and track events. There's [a] lack of money and races in track and field. That worries me a lot. Athletes are busy running after money and don't want to stay on the track. That makes it hard for anyone to graduate and be seen as a hopeful in the 10,000m. [South African] runners spend lots of their time chasing after small money [and] the long-term results of over-racing kills one's career. Personally, I would like to go on a training camp with the [other South African marathon] guys to prepare for the Olympics. If [we] can train together, we can make progress. But in this country, it's every man for himself and that is disrupting our progress." (dailysun.co.za, 17 Nov 2019; dailysun.co.za, 29 Apr 2018)

SUB TWO HOUR MARATHON
He said that the unofficial sub-two-hour marathon time set by Eliud Kipchoge in 2019 shows the importance of teamwork in the event. He was one of the pacemakers during Kipchoge's earlier attempt to run below the two-hour mark. "The lesson we can take from Kipchoge is that teamwork won the day. He had all the support to do it and it showed that he was psychologically ready to break the barrier. He is a humble person, but he is different in a race due to his dedication. If a sub-two-hour marathon was to happen in an official race in future, it would take all the contenders to be in the same shape as Kipchoge to do it." (city-press.news24.com, 13 Oct 2019)

In August 2019 he became the first South African to run the half-marathon in under 60 minutes, when he came fourth in a time of 59:51 at the Buenos Aires Half-Marathon in Argentina. (fisu.net 27 Aug 2019; iol.co.za, 26 Aug 2019; Runners World, 01 Nov 2019)