Breyton Poole, 22 year old athlete, is making waves in the sporting scene after recently reaching the season’s best result at the Boland senior athletics championship on 3 and 4 March 2023. He obtained a gold medal for his High Jump performance, at the height of 2.15m. This competition is good preparation for the South African National Championship, taking place 30 March to 1 April.
Poole recently graduated from Stellenbosch University (SU) with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theology. He is currently undertaking a postgraduate diploma in marketing.
When asked about how he maintains a balance between his academic life and sporting career, Poole answered, “I believe there’s a time and a place for everything, so discipline is quite important for me.”
Poole has accomplished numerous achievements within his sporting career, including attending the Commonwealth Games at the age of 18.
“I was the youngest in the competition by a couple of years,” he said. He went on to win a medal at the African championship in 2019 as well as taking 4th place at the World Student Games in Italy. He aims to win a medal at the upcoming World Student Games, hosted in China this year.
Poole first became involved in sports at school, where he took part in rugby, cricket and athletics. Over time, he grew to focus his energy on athletics, specifically high jump. He was subsequently offered a sponsorship from Adidas to jump on a more professional level.
Poole’s role model is South African Olympic athlete, Wayde Van Niekerk, known for his track and field sprinting.
“His humble presence and his values as a person have taught me a lot as a student in the game”, says Poole.
He ends off saying, “My small piece of advice to other aspiring athletes is [to] write down your short- and long-term dreams for yourself and start somewhere (place it on your wall). A motivational quote for myself is ‘If your dreams don’t scare you, they’re not big enough.’”
