- Josia Thugwane
Josia Thugwane (born
April 15 ,1971 ) is aSouth Africa n athlete, best known for winning the Gold Medal in the marathon race at the1996 Summer Olympics . Thugwane, who is ofNdebele heritage, is the first black athlete to earn an Olympic gold for South Africa.Born in
Bethal , Thugwane ran his first marathon in 1991, but his breakthrough to the international athletics scene came in 1995, when he won theHonolulu Marathon .Just five months before the Games commenced, Thugwane was carjacked and shot; the bullet grazed his chin, leaving an inch-long scar, and he injured his back as a result of jumping from his moving car. The coalmine that employed him paid for his medical care and rehabilitation. [cite web|url=http://www.nytimes.com/specials/olympics/0805/oly-run-marathon.html |title=In Marathon, First Gold Medal Won by Black South African |accessdate=2008-08-24 |date=1996-8-5 |publisher=The New York Times ]
At Atlanta, in the 1996 Olympic marathon, a large leading pack stayed in contact with each other for most of the race, until at the 35 km mark when Thugwane initiated a break away and he along with
Lee Bong-Ju fromSouth Korea andErick Wainaina fromKenya . They stayed together until entering the stadium, when Thugwane got a slight lead. Thugwane finished 3second s ahead of Lee for the closest Olympic marathon finish ever.Thugwane had a very successful year in 1997 by winning the
Fukuoka Marathon , but then his career went down. He failed to finish in three successive marathons, and finished only twentieth in the 2000 Sydney Olympic marathon despite top ten finishes in theNew York Marathon andLondon Marathon that year.In 2002 he won the Nagano Olympic Memorial Marathon in Japan.
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