\n<\/p>\n
Eseme’s season so far has been mixed, having missed the indoor campaign through injury.<\/p>\n
He then recorded top-six finishes in the opening four 100m races of the Diamond League calendar, clocking a season’s best of 9.99 seconds in Rome, just short of his personal best time of 9.96secs.<\/p>\n
In July, he recorded a new national record in the 200m, but injury has again curtailed his ability to race properly since that point.<\/p>\n
“I’ve been training, though not in full force,” he admitted.<\/p>\n
“But I still have goals for Tokyo. I want to represent my country as best as I can.”<\/p>\n
Having suffered with injuries and visa issues<\/a> around other global showpiece events, he admits that he has found it tough to deal with the setbacks.<\/p>\n “I was really affected,” he said, before also confessing that he worries people will think “he is just faking it because he’s scared”.<\/p>\n Someone who might offer support is South African sprinter Akani Simbine<\/a>, the former African 100m record holder who has agonisingly finished fourth in the past two Olympic finals.<\/p>\n “Sometimes, when I have some doubts, he’s always there to [say] ‘OK, this is how it works’,” revealed Eseme.<\/p>\n “He’s the one who held my hand and showed me the way things happen in the athletics.”<\/p>\n Simbine did win a silver medal at last year’s Games in Paris as part of South Africa’s 4x100m relay team, a feat matched by Botswana in the men’s 4x400m.<\/p>\n With 10 African men reaching the semi-finals of the 100m in Paris – including Letsile Tebogo,<\/a> who would go on to win 200m gold,<\/a> Eseme is convinced African sprinting is on the rise.<\/p>\n “I believe Africa is going to take over,” he said.<\/p>\n “With everything that’s happening with Tebogo, Akani, we are seeing that it’s possible to achieve all those things.”<\/p>\n And despite his age, Eseme believes he can be part of the revolution.<\/p>\n “A lot of my opponents have been doing this sport for 15 years. I’ve been doing track and field for eight years,” he said.<\/p>\n “I may not be young, but in terms of the work the other athletes have undergone, the work their muscles have undergone, I believe my muscles are still fresh and I’m still growing progressively.<\/p>\n “The Jamaicans, Americans, South Africans, they are not from space. They are not super-humans.<\/p>\n “If they are able to do it, I believe I am able to do it too.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n