Long and triple jumper Khotso Mokoena has returned to training with the plan of qualifying for next year’s Commonwealth Games to be held in Birmingham, England.

The former Olympic medallist, who is a member of the SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) board and chairperson of the athletes' commission, says performances in domestic competitions will determine if he is ready for a major championship.

“I have started training already, the past months have been tough coming back into the game and also trying to lose the small stomach,” said the 2008 Olympic Games long jump silver medallist and 2014 Commonwealth Games triple jump gold medallist.

“Things are coming quite OK, it’s good to be back in training, but I think once I start competition I will definitely know what it is like – but the chances of going to the Commonwealth Games are quite good.”

Mokoena also spoke about the sad state of triple and long jumping in the country, which he said needs urgent attention.

“Our long jumpers have a long way to go – we need to pay a little bit more attention to our jumpers. In the past years we had really good medals at major championships when it came to long jump.

“Having not received a medal at the Olympics in Tokyo is a serious concern. We didn’t even have representation in the triple jump, so there is so much work to be done before the next Olympics.

“I was hoping that Ruswahl Samaai was in a great position but it’s unfortunate that on the day he was just not in it.”

Mokoena said it was unfortunate not to have banned medal contender Luvo Manyonga in Tokyo.

“If you think about it, especially for the jumpers, 2016 in Rio, 2018, 2019 were good years, but unfortunately we lost a medal in Luvo because of his circumstances.

"Standards seem to be dropping even though we had a tough time in 2020 with the pandemic and athletes not being able to compete.

“Our athletes lost a lot of preparation time in 2020 and the other thing that we need to look at is the coaching when it comes to jumping in South Africa. We have to give technical assistance to the coaches that we have now, so that we can develop them and so they are able to go to medal positions.

“The next Commonwealth Games are just around the corner, so I just think that it’s a big opportunity for Ruswahl to step up his game. He got bronze at the previous Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and Gold Coast in Australia and there is more that he can still give us as a long jumper.

“When I look at the triple jump, we have nobody right now in the country doing it.”