When the Russian 7s girls take part in the Tokyo Olympic Games in a month, a local biokinetic and sports scientist, Graham Bentz from Pinelands, will be part of the management team.
The Russians qualified for the Olympics at the Rugby Sevens repechage tournament held in Monaco on the weekend of Saturday 19 to Sunday 20 June.
“When the girls qualified, my feelings were of grace and happiness. I was humbled and honoured to see the result of the hard work put in by all involved since October last year,” Bentz says.
He shares when he was a little boy playing with a rugby ball in his backyard, it was always his dream to go to the Olympics. “But I soon realised that I wouldn’t make it as an athlete and that is why I studied to be a biokinetic and sports scientist in the hope of being part of a management team that would go to the Olympics.”
Bentz is currently the assistant coach and head of performance for the Russian 7s girls. He is also involved with rugby teams from different nations as well as the junior setups of the South African Rugby Union and the Sports Science Institute in Newlands. He has a vast knowledge of how the body functions and how to use that knowledge to enhance an athlete’s performance.
“Last year during the Covid-19 pandemic, the Russians asked me to assist in helping the girls qualify for the Olympics. I was the first international coach they approached to help with the 7s team. I worked with the high-performance manager of their men’s team three years ago when they were on the HSBC 7s series.”
Bentz’s journey as a biokinetic started with him assisting Western Province juniors. “I helped at clubs like Tygerberg and Hamiltons. I was part of the management team of the SA schools side and Junior Boks, and was part of the structure of SA Rugby for eight years. At the institute in Newlands, I tested and analysed athletes who came from all over the world. In 2012, I was part of the management of the Junior Boks that won the Junior World Cup on home soil at Newlands,” he says.
Together with Paul Treu and Vuyo Zangqa, Bentz helped coach Kenya’s 7s team to qualify for the Olympics Games in Rio 2016 but, due to the Kenyan Rugby Union experiencing money problems, they returned to South Africa.
Bentz says his profession as a biokinetic has allowed him to travel the world. “I’ve seen many special places but Monaco is the most beautiful place for me; the yachts and the scenery in and around the south of France. For South Africans, it is tough to travel due to the Covid-19 variant here. You have to do a lot of paperwork. Luckily for me, I had the Johnson & Johnson vaccination but I am still the last person allowed on a flight when I travel with the Russian girls.”
He says each European country has its own set of rules. “You constantly have to phone and check if your documentation is in order.”
After the Russian 7s girl team qualified, Bentz decided to stay in Moscow. “It is only a month before the Olympics start and with the (infection) figures on the rise in South Africa, it is not viable for me to go home. The girls are the current European champs and they have to defend their title when the Olympic rugby sevens competitions kick off on 26 July,” he says.
Bentz is a regular participant in the Comrades, Iron Man and Two Oceans and other endurance events.
He says, besides his family, what he misses most from home is the braai. Asked how he will feel when he hears our national anthem being played at the Olympics, Bentz says he is not sure. “But when the Blitsboks are in action, the Russians won’t know I am singing along.”
