From the Archives
An exclusive interview with Usain Bolt
About 15 minutes into an interview with Usain Bolt, I felt comfortable enough to ask him whether the shopworn expression, "white men can't run" was true. Bolt, the showman who has taken the 100 and...
Expectations, Reality and Greatness
UPDATE: This was adjudged the winning entry in the 2023 L'Ormarins King's Plate writing competition “We need never be ashamed of our tears” – Charles Dickens, Great Expectations The morning after...
Kat Swanepoel: Always Rising
When Kat Swanepoel speaks about life-changing events she refers to them as “bumps in the road” or “bad luck”. She chronicles the effects of degenerative multiple sclerosis and then punctuates it...
Ageless Situ ready for her sixth Paralympics
The door to her room is wide open and the kettle on the table in the middle of it still warm. She picks up her mask and puts it on and checks to see that she has her room key with her. She has a...
Cogill fights back against life’s curveballs
Home for Theo Cogill is the Cape Town suburb of Bonteheuwel. “When I wake up and go outside people are doing drugs, even two doors away. I go to the shops and can see someone lying on the ground, dead. It’s just the norm in the area. There’s no escaping the realities.”
Simbine doesn’t have to prove himself to anyone
Despite the longevity and his history, Akani Simbine feels as though each time he comes to a competition he has to prove himself all over again. “Athletics is hard, it’s a very tough sport. Very lonely. When you stand on the start line you’re alone, everyone wants to take you down.
Mendes thriving in her role as ‘mother hen’
By GARY LEMKE Sitting in her makeshift office on another hot, humid day, with the air conditioner cooling down things, Danisha Mendes looks right at home. Not that she calls the Trinidad capital of...
Rooskrantz Rising Above the Falls
“Being in gymnastics has normalised crying,” Caitlin Rooskrantz says. And then she laughs. “My coach [Ilse Roets] has los trane (loose tears). I’m always crying, we all are. It’s contagious. We all...
Wheelchair Stalwart Ready For One More Roll
February 1990: There is change in the air. South Africans are experiencing a bright new dawn. A month earlier, FW de Klerk announced the end of apartheid and Nelson Mandela was freed from prison...
Band of Brothers Bonded By More Than Hockey
David hasn’t quite slayed Goliath but he has landed a few blows which have shaken up the established order at these Commonwealth Games. The men’s hockey team will see Monday’s bronze medal showdown...