South Africa's relay team not getting carried away ahead of Olympics after win

South African sprinter Tlotliso Gift Leotlela says despite winning the men's 4x100m relay at this weekend's World Athletics Relays he is realistic about the team's chances at the Olympic Games.

Leotlela along with Thando Dlodlo, Clarence Munyai and Akani Simbine won the event in Poland ahead of Italy, who were promoted to second place after the disqualification of defending champions Brazil.

However, the team is not getting carried away with the victory.

"We know at the top level anything can happen on the day because there are such good athletes in each of the teams," Leotlela told BBC Sport Africa.

"So it is important that we just keep preparing well and stay focused on doing our jobs to the best of our ability and not worrying about what other teams are doing."

The quartet's time of 38.71 seconds in the final included an anchor leg of 9.08 seconds from Simbine while Leotlela's split for the second leg was 9.16 seconds.

Leotlela added that the result in Poland does give them confidence for the rest of the season.

"It just sets the tone for the rest of the season. I think the win definitely gave us a boost," he continued.

"It's always an amazing feeling to win gold for South Africa.

"We know where we stand as a team and what are the things we can work on to better ourselves so we can be fully prepared for the games.

"It's an honour to race the best in the world, and I will do everything I can to represent South Africa well at Tokyo."

This article originally appeared on BBC Sport

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