From Tembisa to the Olympics – The Remarkable Story of Elvis Khoza and Ryan Mphahlele

South African middle-distance coach Elvis Khoza, based in Tembisa and coaching athletes on scholarships at the University of Johannesburg, is reaping the rewards of his hard work.

Khoza has been coaching Tembisa-born track and field star Ryan Mphahlele for eleven years. Today. Khoza and Mphahlele are celebrating Mphahlele’s qualification for the Olympic Games.

Mphahlele earned his spot in the 1500m through the world ranking points system and will make his Olympic debut in Paris later this month. Khoza can proudly say that he has groomed an athlete from one of the biggest townships to the biggest stage in sports.

"So far I will say I felt good, it's something that we planned, that chief one day we need to go to the Olympics. From Tembisa, from the dusty streets to a national event or an international event, of which Olympics is one of it. So, our target is them, only two steps we are left with to get what we planned from six years ago. I started coaching him when he was 11, 11 to 13 somewhere there," Khoza said.

Now that it’s official he’s coaching an Olympian, Khoza does not want to put unnecessary pressure on his athlete. He wants his athlete to focus on each heat and take it easy one race at a time in Paris.

"The target for now since he's going there, the one thing is we don't want to pressure ourselves too much. We came this far and from here we take it from where we are now to get whatever that we can achieve, a medal is a bonus to us but putting us into a level that we wanna perform better than what we performed here. We wanna perform better than what got us to the Olympics. So, I think when we are there, we are gonna get that achievement.

Ryan excels in the 800m, 3000m, 5000m, and 10 000m, however, he qualified for the 1500m.

This article originally appeared on SABC Sport.