by Gary Lemke | Dec 20, 2023 | From The Archives
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 200-metre distances into territory where no man or...
by Gary Lemke | Dec 1, 2023 | From The Archives
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 the day before, the sun rose over the Cape Peninsula, a...
by Gary Lemke | Nov 1, 2023 | From The Archives
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 with a positive. Sometimes the English language doesn’t have enough words...
by Gary Lemke | Sep 23, 2023 | From The Archives
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 purple piece of paper in her hand, having written seven lines of...
by Gary Lemke | Sep 21, 2023 | From The Archives
As much as Theo Cogill has moved on with his life since that fateful night 10 years ago when he tried to break up a fight and was stabbed in the neck, spine and lower arms, the reminders are there on a daily basis. Cogill is now 34, the only table-tennis player on...
by Gary Lemke | Aug 19, 2023 | From The Archives
When they get around to updating the first page of South African sporting greats there surely must be room for Akani Simbine’s name. For the longest time he’s been the fastest man in Africa, the fastest in the Commonwealth. Twice he’s finished in the top five in the...
