As the Boks crash and Bafana Bafana burn, the rise of disabled sport continues to be one of the success stories of post-democratic SA. The creation of a Paralympic culture undoubtedly has something to do with the achievements of Oscar "Blade Runner" Pistorius and swimming star Natalie du Toit, but in the past 20 years we’ve become a nation that is tuned in to disabled sport. Some generous sponsorship has raised awareness and once every four years many South Africans find themselves quietly admiring disabled athletes’ courage and star quality. Despite taking place in a warren of categories and subcategories, the recently completed Rio Paralympics introduced a number of new stars and served to underline the claims of those already reasonably well known. Having won three medals in Beijing in 2008, Hilton Langenhoven, for example, won gold in the men’s long jump in Rio. Langenhoven is an albino with impaired sight — indeed, he can see no further than about 3m. His disability is not insi...
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