The coach who unified Namibian athletics across racial divides

Former javelin thrower Hannes von Holtz, who became one of Namibia’s most renowned athletics coaches and administrators before and after independence, urges local coaches to build professional relationships with their athletes.

“I think it is imperative for our coaches to get to know their athletes away from sport stadiums. It’s important to understand and know why an athlete behaves in a different way from their teammates before you can judge them,” Von Holtz says.

“People are from different backgrounds, some do not even have a proper meal before a race but we just expect them to win. Where do they get the energy from? You will be shocked that there are athletes who go to training on a hungry stomach but they are very committed.”

The former Namibia Amateur Athletics Union (now Athletics Namibia) president is considered the pioneer of racial integration in athletics.

The retired coach, who was a middle distance runner throughout high school, says his main objective in athletics was always to be a coach rather than an administrator.

Von Holtz specialised as a javelin coach prior to independence and is a founding member of Athletics Namibia after independence.

“When independence came, there was a need to form a unified athletics body that would affiliate to the Namibian Sport Council and be accepted by the International Amateur Athletic Federation. That paved our way for international participation,” he recalls.

“It was not easy. A few of my colleagues from the previous dispensation were not keen to do away with their divisive morals. However, the writing was on the wall for them to simply unite or remain isolated from world athletics.”

Von Holtz says his club, Welwitschia 77 Athletics Club, had exceptional black athletes on their books but they were not allowed to participate in events hosted by the white council.

He adds that although it required some tough negotiations, it was realised that the previously white council had to dissolve and join hands with their counterparts of colour to form the united Namibia Amateur Athletics Union.

Windhoek-born Von Holtz started his love for athletics when he went to Swakopmund High School, where he started to throw the javelin and take part in 400m and 800m races.

“I spent my primary school days at Höhere Privatschule Windhoek, which later added Deutsche before its name to become DHPS. . . Me moving to Swakopmund was necessitated after my parents secured a job to manage a farm in the Usakos district. They felt it was better for me to go to a boarding school at Swakopmund because of the proximity of their new home,” Von Holtz says.

It was during his time at Swakopmund that the retired administrator, who also played goalkeeper for the Swakopmund High School football team and later for SKW FC when he returned to Windhoek, developed his love for athletics.

However, the former runner adds that he was never an exceptional athlete, which prompted him to take up coaching and, to an extent, administration.

“I can proudly say I was part and parcel of the first multi-racial athletics controlling body in independent Namibia. If I am not mistaken, athletics was the first affiliate to the Namibia Sports Council, which is today known as the Namibia Sports Commission (NSC),” he says.

“I don’t know any other athletics club which was more racially intergrated than Welwitschia 77 Athletics Club, which I founded in 1977 long before the country’s independence. I am honoured to still be the patron of the club at my old age.”

The club, currently affiliated to the Namibia University of Science and Technology, is officially known as Nust Welwitschia 77 Athletics Club.

Despite his status in Namibian athletics, Von Holtz has only been overseas once as a member of the NSC delegation with the Namibian team that competed at the 1996 World Indoor Athletics Championship in Stuttgart, Germany.

No matter how much his colleagues tried to persuade him to focus more on the administrative side of the controlling body, Von Holtz simply could not stay away from the training ground.

“I did my coaching because I like it,” he says, adding that: “Coaching for me was more satisfying than being on the council, because there you could see how your athletes are developing and progressing from your coaching tips and advice.”

He says the fun part of his coaching started after he obtained his coaching badges from the international athletics federation, although, he says, Namibia’s integration into the international athletics community was the highlight of his athletics career.

Von Holtz refuses to be drawn into mentioning the low points of his involvement with the sport.

“To be honest, I never had any low moments in my involvement with athletics, apart from the fact that I was rather embarrassed by the reluctance of my colleagues in the former white athletics union to dismantle their organisation and join the unified Athletics Namibia,” he notes.

He has received praise from one of his former club athletes and ex-marathon champion, Joseph Tjitunga, who only had good things to say about Von Holtz during a recent interview with The Namibian Sport, describing him as “a great motivator who put in time to see his athletes shine.”

Tjitunga represented Namibia at the Commonwealth Games, World Championships and Olympic Games.

Welwitschia 77 also had other talented athletes like former Namibian 800m record holder Daniel Nghipandulwa and the unbeaten Ruben Indongo, who still holds the national records in the 3 000m and 20km road race.

Top female long-distance runner Elizabeth Leino, who competed at the Tokyo Olympics, two World Championships and was a bronze-medal winner at the Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth Games in 1998, is also a product of the club.

Von Holtz became a widower a few years ago after his wife, whom he married in 1961, died. They had four children together, including Ulla von Holtz, his oldest, who he says was a good sprinter with several junior records at her former school, DHPS.

Von Holtz now enjoys a quiet life at Sonnleiten Retirement Village, located about seven kilometres from Hosea Kutako International Airport.

“There is so little I am doing at my old age, but the village has walkways and open space of about 12km. I enjoy taking a walk with my friend and my dog every second day. I really enjoy the quietness that nature offers here, away from the noisy city life,” Von Holtz says.

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