"I would love to make it to the top 20 at least."
Celestie Engelbrecht finished the Africa Regional in first place, just 1 point ahead of second-place Nicole Seymour.
However, all didn’t go to plan for Engelbrecht and her place at the 2014 Reebok CrossFit Games was only secure after the final event of the weekend.
“I actually had a bad regionals,” Engelbrecht said. “My performances in training were a lot better. I think my anxiety and nerves got the better of me. I was ahead in few of the workouts and then my body would just shut down, which never happened in practice.”
And when she stumbled, Seymour was there to pass her.
On Event 3—Nasty Girls V2—Engelbrecht led the field from the start with Seymour trailing her in second, until the final round of muscle-ups. Engelbrecht received several no-reps for failing to lock out, allowing Seymour to close the gap. The pressure of Seymour closing in appeared to fluster Engelbrecht and she broke the final round of 10 115-lb. hang cleans into sets of two. Seymour completed the hang cleans in two quick sets of five to win the event ahead of Engelbrecht.
Engelbrecht started Day 2 in first place, 12 points ahead of Seymour in third. But with Seymour’s worst event—the hang snatch—out of the way, the pair was evenly matched in the remaining events.
Seymour won Event 4—strict handstand push-ups, front squats and burpees—almost 3 minutes ahead of Engelbrecht in third place. A calm looking Engelbrecht then took the early lead on Event 5—10 rounds of a 14-ft. legless rope climb and a 200-foot sprint. She stayed ahead of the field until missing the target on her final rep. When she looked over her shoulder she saw Seymour approaching her final climb, and immediately jumped up to attempt her last rep again. But she failed repeatedly, allowing four competitors to place ahead of her before she finally completed the event.
“With Celestie having completed the rope-climb event three times in training, at a very fast pace, it was hard to see her fail on her last rep at regionals. That was probably the most challenging moment of the competition for her,” said Engelbrecht’s boyfriend and coach Scott MacIntosh. “But having the composure to rest and eventually get the last rep was brilliant!”
Engelbrecht was visibly weary on Day 2.
“I think this is the hardest day out of all three. The adrenaline is a bit down, the nerves are down, so today is all about maintaining,” she said on Day 2.
The come-from-behind finishes on Events 3 and 5 appeared to give Seymour a mental edge over Engelbrecht, and she went on to win both events on Day 3. But although Seymour ended up winning more events, Engelbrecht’s performance was more consistent overall. She overcame her nerves and the competition to hold on to first place.
“There was a lot of pressure on me because I wanted to win,” Engelbrecht said. “But (the regional experience) was good. I think I’ve grown mentally.”
Engelbrecht and MacIntosh are approaching the Games as an opportunity to learn and grow.
“There is no pressure because it is my first time,” Engelbrecht said. “I just want to go and learn and grow as an athlete, and give it my best of course. I think going there and seeing how good the girls are while learning from them as we interact will help me in my prep for next year.”
MacIntosh agreed: “It’s hard to have expectations because this is her first international competition. We want her to put in the best finish out of all the previous competitors from Africa, but most of all we want the Games to be a steppingstone for her CrossFit career.”
While she and her coach said that this Games will just be a learning experience, Engelbrecht has nonetheless set an extremely ambitious goal for her final placing.
“I would love to make it to the top 20 at least,” Engelbrecht said.
Finishing in the upper half of the field may not sound ambitious until you consider the region's history at the Games; no woman from the region has ever climbed high on the Games Leaderboard. Carla Nunes da Costa took 38th in 2013, and Rika Diedericks and Mona Pretorious took last place in 2012 and 2011, respectively.
Apparently, the former national level gymnast with several gold medals from the African Gymnastics Championships is used to aiming high.
With regionals out of the way and her training going to plan, Engelbrecht has a group of supporters arranging fundraisers to help cover her travel costs. Given the infancy of CrossFit in Africa, very few athletes earn sponsorships big enough to permit them to train full time, let alone receive sufficient financial aid towards their Games trip.
“I’m very fortunate to have this group of friends who are arranging these fun events and everybody who has supported me so that I can focus on training,” Engelbrecht said.
