Long jump to glory for star township athletes
Manyonga and Samaai hope their world championships medals will inspire youngsters
London — Luvo Manyonga and Ruswahl Samaai hope their lengthy journeys from poverty and despair to long-jump glory in London will inspire youngsters. At the world championships on Saturday night, Manyonga, 26, floated to gold with his second leap of 8.48m, while Samaai, 25, claimed the bronze on 8.32m. "Luvo [was] a drug addict," said Samaai. "He just came back and he just won a frickin’ gold medal at the world champs, so that’s an amazing story for him. "I had to walk 10km to the track and back each and every single day [to train]. So, what doesn’t motivate you from this? "Now both of us are standing on a podium, not just for ourselves, but representing each and every single person who’s [been] through the same circumstances that we went through," he said. Olympic silver medallist Manyonga, who grew up in Mbekweni, Paarl, won the world under-20 championships in 2010 and ended fifth at his maiden senior showpiece the following year. He tested positive for tik in 2012 and was banned f...
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