Akani Simbine may just be the unluckiest sprinter ever, as he finished fourth in the closest men’s 100m final in Olympic history on Sunday.
It was also the fastest men’s 100m final in history, with all eight men breaking 10 seconds for the first time ever at the Paris Olympics.
Team SA’s Simbine took fourth in 9.82 seconds, with Fred Kerley grabbing the bronze medal in 9.81. Noah Lyles claimed gold in 9.79 ahead of Jamaican Kishane Thompson in the same time - ahead by just five one thousandths of a second.
It was the closest 1-2 finish since the 1980 Olympics - and possibly ever since the technology did not previously exist to separate such small margins.
The times from the Men’s 100m were so close 🤏
— SuperSport 🏆 (@SuperSportTV) August 4, 2024
Incredible race, for all involved 🔥#Paris2024 | #CloserToYourChampions pic.twitter.com/N2nIcFFzwK
Smallest of margins
Lyles, in fact, had a previous personal best of 9.82 and his marginal improvement was enough on the night to claim the top prize.
Simbine, 30, improved his own South African record from 9.84 he set three years ago just for good measure.
Still, his efforts were not enough to claim a podium spot.
The career of Simbine has seen him come agonisingly close to medalling at the Olympics, as he took fourth in Tokyo and finished fifth at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
He has also been just as unlucky at World Championships finishing fifth in 2017, fourth in 2019 and sixth in 2022.
Unless Simbine has better fortune in the twilight of his career, it’s fair to say that he might just go down in the annals of sprinting history as the most underrated SA athlete of all time.