Josia Thugwane

Josia Thugwane (born 15 April 1971) is a South African long-distance runner, best known for winning the gold medal in the marathon at the 1996 Summer Olympics. Thugwane, who is of Ndebele heritage, is the first black athlete to earn an Olympic gold for South Africa.

Josia Thugwane
Personal information
NationalitySouth Africa
Born (1972-04-14) 14 April 1972
Bethal, Mpumalanga
Sport
SportTrack and field
Event(s)Marathon
Medal record
Men's athletics
Representing  South Africa
Olympic Games
1996 Atlanta Marathon

Born in Bethal, Thugwane ran his first marathon in 1991, but his breakthrough to the international athletics scene came in 1995, when he won the Honolulu 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.[1]

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 from South Korea and Erick Wainaina from Kenya. They stayed together until entering the stadium, when Thugwane got a slight lead. Thugwane finished three seconds ahead of Lee for the closest Olympic marathon finish ever.

Thugwane had a very successful year in 1997 by winning the Fukuoka Marathon and he won the AIMS Best Marathon Runner Award that year. After that point his career performance dipped. He failed to finish in three successive marathons, and finished only twentieth in the 2000 Sydney Olympic marathon despite top ten finishes in the New York Marathon and London Marathon that year. In 2002 he won the Nagano Olympic Memorial Marathon in Japan.

He was awarded the Silver Order of Ikhamanga, South Africa's second highest cultural honour, in 2011.[2]

Statistics

International competition record
Year Competition Venue Position Event Notes
Representing  South Africa
1992 Potsdam–Berlin Ekiden Potsdam–Berlin, Germany 3rd 5K (4th leg) 14:07
? Team
1995 World Half Marathon Championships Montbéliard–Belfort, France 5th Half marathon 1:02:28
12th Team 3:12:40
1996 Olympic Games Atlanta, United States 1st Marathon 2:12:36
2000 Olympic Games Sydney, Australia 20th Marathon 2:16:59
2001 World Championships Edmonton, Canada — Marathon DNF
2002 World Half Marathon Championships Brussels, Belgium 30th Half marathon 1:03:39
4th Team 3:07:29
2003 World Championships Paris, France — Marathon DNF

Professional races
Year Competition Venue Position Event Notes
1993 Tiberias MarathonTiberias, Israel3rdMarathon2:18:42
Pretoria MarathonPretoria, South Africa1stMarathon2:15:57
Honolulu MarathonHonolulu, United States13thMarathon2:29:16
1994 Gyeongju International MarathonGyeongju, South Korea28thMarathon2:24:52
Chicago MarathonChicago, United States—MarathonDNF
1995 Honolulu MarathonHonolulu, Hawaii1stMarathon2:16:08
New York City MarathonNew York City, United States—MarathonDNF
1996 Fukuoka MarathonFukuoka, Japan—MarathonDNF
1997 Fukuoka MarathonFukuoka, Japan1stMarathon2:07:28
London MarathonLondon, United Kingdom3rdMarathon2:08:06
1998 London MarathonLondon, United Kingdom—MarathonDNF
New York City MarathonNew York City, United States—MarathonDNF
Great Scottish RunGlasgow, United Kingdom2ndHalf marathon1:02:47
Great North RunSouth Shields, United Kingdom1stHalf marathon1:02:32
1999 London MarathonLondon, United Kingdom—MarathonDNF
Great Scottish RunGlasgow, United Kingdom3rdHalf marathon1:03:01
Great North RunSouth Shields, United Kingdom17thHalf marathon1:05:42
Fukuoka MarathonFukuoka, Japan26thMarathon2:17:01
2000 London MarathonLondon, United Kingdom8thMarathon2:10:29
New York City MarathonNew York City, United States6thMarathon2:15:25
Great Scottish RunGlasgow, United Kingdom10thHalf marathon1:04:32
Lisbon Half MarathonGlasgow, United Kingdom11thHalf marathon1:05:29
2001 Seoul International MarathonSeoul, South Korea2ndMarathon2:11:52
Honolulu MarathonHonolulu, United States—MarathonDNF
2002 Nagano MarathonNagano, Japan1stMarathon2:13:23
Two Oceans Half MarathonCape Town, South Africa1stHalf marathon1:04:15
JoongAng Seoul MarathonSeoul, South Korea7thMarathon2:10:05
2003 Nagano MarathonNagano, Japan2ndMarathon2:14:18
GöteborgsvarvetGothenburg, Sweden3rdHalf marathon1:04:14
2004Milano City MarathonMilan, Italy—MarathonDNF
2005 Vienna City MarathonVienna, Austria—MarathonDNF
Honolulu MarathonHonolulu, United States—MarathonDNF
2006 Two Oceans MarathonCape Town, South Africa—56KDNF
Warsaw MarathonWarsaw, Poland4thMarathon2:17:11
2007Two Oceans MarathonCape Town, South Africa2nd56K3:09:46

National titles
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gollark: 🐝!(), if ever unicode identifiers get that sort of support.
gollark: It is, yes.

See also

References
  1. "In Marathon, First Gold Medal Won by Black South African". The New York Times. 1996-08-05. Archived from the original on 2008-05-07. Retrieved 2008-08-24.
  2. Zuma honours recipients of National Orders. SA News (2011-04-28). Retrieved 2020-05-23.
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