Imagine the scene: you are with your friends at a restaurant in Doha and a pony-tailed, bearded man approaches you and hands you a sketch. You look at it and are taken by surprise. The image is sharp and bears a stunning resemblance to you. You are at a loss for words and thank him profusely.
“I like to do that and surprise people. Often when I am at a public place and I spot somebody with an interesting face, I’ll do a sketch without him or her knowing. Then I present the person with the sketch,” says Jaco van Vuuren with an impish smile.
To say van Vuuren is an interesting guy would be an understatement. The 47-year-old is a former South African pole-vaulter — his best effort is 5.20 metres — and now a coach with the Qatar Athletics Federation where he is tasked with actualising decathlete Mohamed al-Mannai’s undeniable potential into medals on the international stage.
But apart from being all that he was also a court artist of international renown for nine years. When South African star Paralympian Oscar Pistorius was standing trial for murdering his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, it was van Vuuren who was assigned the task of sketching him in the dock. As cameras were not allowed inside the court during the trial, as is the case during most cases, it was van Vuuren’s sketches of Pistorius that were beamed across television channels around the world.
Pistorius, whose exploits on prosthetic legs is the stuff of legend, was a superstar in South Africa and a source of inspiration for millions of differently-abled people around the world. The fact that he was reduced to a hapless wreck in court and later convicted and jailed, and that too for such a grievous crime, is something many South Africans have still not come to terms with.
Pistorius was born with a condition called fibular hemimelia (congenital absence of the fibula) in both legs. When he was 11 months old, his legs were amputated halfway between his knees and ankles.
For van Vuuren, the case was particularly poignant because he and Pistorius were good friends and it was hard for him to see him in that situation as he had to capture all the emotions he went through during the trial.
“It was tough, emotionally. I have known Oscar from the time he was 12 years old. We have been good friends since then. We often met up and talked about athletics which was our passion. He was an athlete of unbelievable mental strength and resolve. He came from a very rich family but even then, you can’t achieve what he achieved if you are not determined enough.
“In fact, a few days before the murder Oscar and I had met over coffee to discuss a charity project in Angola. It was something to do with prosthetic limbs and I was trying to convince him to accompany me and talk about his experiences as an athlete.”
Pistorius is one of a handful of sportsmen who have represented their countries in the Paralympics as well as the regular Olympics. He was part of South Africa’s athletics squad at the London Olympics where he became the first amputee runner in history to compete with able-bodied sportsmen at the quadrennial sporting gala.
In the 400m, he finished second in the first heat among five runners, clocking a time of 45.44 seconds to advance to the semi-finals. He couldn’t advance to the final, though, finishing last with a time of 46.54 seconds.
A year before that Pistorius was part of the South African 4x400m relay squad which won the silver medal behind the US. He was dropped for the final, however, because the South Africans had decided in advance that whoever ran the slowest split in the heat would drop out of the final to allow LJ van Zyl, the bronze medallist from the 400m hurdles, to run the anchor leg. But because he was part of the heats, he is considered part of the medal-winning team. He eventually reconciled with his fate, saying he was “happy for the boys”.
Van Vuuren says he feels for Pistorius and perhaps, in his heart of hearts, believes his version of things – that he mistook Steenkamp for an intruder who was hiding in the bathroom.
“There are a lot of things that are not said in court. Court cases are like that. In the end you have to accept the verdict. All I can say is when you kill someone you also die. It’s a punishment that stays with you for life.”
But he admits that the case has changed their lives.
“It changed Oscar’s life. It has also changed my life. I never thought I would be part of such a high-profile court case involving a dear friend who happens to be one of the most remarkable athletes the world has seen. It was all very personal.”
Does he meet him in jail?
“No, I can’t. Only his family is allowed to meet him. He has a few more years of jail time remaining.”
Van Vuuren, meanwhile, is enjoying his time in Qatar, a place which he has fallen in love with.
“I love this part of the world. The culture here is very different. People are very subtle and diplomatic in the way they deal with things. In the West, people are more direct, blunt. When I came here, it was a shock to me, but I have learned to adjust, and I have learned to love it that way. I won’t exchange that for any amount of money. You learn so much about yourself you didn’t know before.”
He says coaching in Qatar has changed his perspective about how he looks at things.
“Here it’s a different ball game. You don’t want to offend people, you want to maintain good ties with everybody. You have to tune into an athlete’s psyche to be a successful coach. It’s a work in progress.”
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