From addict to gold-medallist: The inspiring story of Luvo Manyonga

“And if you have some time to spare, read about this guy (Luvo Manyonga) and you will truly appreciate what he has been through.” ~Commentary, Commonwealth Games 2018

I’ll admit that I knew zilch about a certain South African track and field athlete called Luvo Manyonga, but the sheer ecstasy with which the commentator praised him after his performance at the Men’s Long Jump Final in Commonwealth Games 2018 certainly piqued my curiosity.

A few keystrokes later, and after all the essential reading material that I could lay my hands on, I have nothing to offer but my sincerest of thanks to the commentator.

This story has it all, a To Hell & Back tale – A prodigy, a troubled upbringing, a dedicated coach, a story of betrayal, of drugs, the confidence of a champ, the lows of an addict, the ban, debt, death and eventual comeback.

“There are only two ways Luvo can go: he’ll either be standing on an Olympic podium, or he’ll be dead from an overdose by the time he’s 30.” Luke Alfred of Mail& Guardian on Luvo Manyonga

I realize that I run the risk of sounding overly Hollywood-ish dramatic, so let me slow things a bit. Let’s go back to the start and take a look at the story of Luvo Manyonga.

The humble beginnings

Manyonga hails from Mbekweni township in Paarl, a city in the far South-West of South Africa. He lived through the typical poverty-stricken and disturbed upbringing that usually follows a child when the father is largely absent and the mother is nothing but a mere household helper.

“I’m a simple person and I don’t think about situations. If I don’t have it, I don’t have it. Growing up in Mbekweni, I would go to school and get R2 [the equivalent of 20p] for lunch. My mom is a domestic worker and she made sure we had food on the table – no matter what. The person I am today is because of my mom and my dad. This mentality I have now is because of what happened and what they taught me. Even going to sleep without food on the table made me stronger.”

Nothing else for him to do in the modest neighbourhood, he took an interest in sports. He had a penchant for track and field events right from the start.

“I was born in 1991 – the same year the [current] world record was set [8.95m by Mike Powell]. So I think it was a calling for me.”

Local coach, Mario Smith, spotted the one-in-a-million talent and decided to dedicate his life to making Manyonga a word-class athlete.

He honed his skills under the local coach. Manyonga was first noticed at the 2009 African Junior Athletics Championships. He then clinched the bronze medal at Mauritius by jumping 7.39 meters.

The major breakthrough came with a win in Germany when he jumped 8.19 m (26 ft 101⁄4 in). With the foundation being rock solid, the entry into the top ten followed suit. The phenomenal run continued with a gold medal at the 2010 World Junior Championships in Athletics.

Onwards and Upwards

He arrived on the senior international scene in the 2011 season. He reached the numero uno spot with a jump of 8.26 m (27 ft 1 in). The World Championships in Athletics in 2011 saw him make it to the final with a jump of 8.04 m (26 ft 41⁄2 in).

Manyonga opened the final with a jump of 8.21 m (26 ft 11 inch), finishing in fifth place. Two weeks later, he stepped up his game when he appeared at the All-Africa Games and overcame former champions Ignisious Gaisah and Ndiss Kaba Badji to finish at the summit.

The Addiction

The laurels kept coming but at a cost. The 80,000 Rand that he had received as prize money disrupted his life. Friends and family came calling on him for financial help. He quickly fell into debt. His coach, Mario Smith, had to support Manyonga's family at his own expense so the jumper could focus on training.

It was around 2011 that Manyonga fell to the lure of Meth, He became a regular user of Tik – the local variant of crystal meth popular in his township. After a dope test confirmed the same, he waived his right to have a "B" sample tested and admitted taking the drug for non-performance-enhancing reasons. He admitted he had developed an addiction in the preceding months and decided to enlist himself for drug rehabilitation.

Short on support, the guy he banked on the most came to his rescue. His coach Smith was his advocate at the tribunal for the doping offence and ensured that he got a reduced sanction of 18 months from the initial ban of two years.

"There can be no disputing that the Athlete is at fault...but the exceptional social circumstances that many black athletes encounter in South Africa cannot be ignored."

As soon as things began to look up, tragedy struck as Smith passed away that year during a car accident while on his way to visit his athlete in Mbekweni. Manyonga's life plummetted to an all-time low as he missed his coach's memorial, again lured by some friends to take tik en route. His future coach, John McGrath would recall:

“The loss of Mario was a terrible blow, Luvo went into a downward spiral. He was staring death in the face. It would be an exaggeration to say then that the number of people who believed in Luvo could be counted on one hand.”

But, Luvo was not a quitter. He picked himself up, dusted himself off and was back on the field. Manyonga began working with John McGrath, an Irish, strength and training coach, in 2014. The next target was Glasgow - if everything went to plan.

Manyonga qualified for the 2014 Commonwealth Games but his paperwork was labelled “lost”, allegedly a mistake made by an administrator. For Manyonga, it was a major embarrassment. The writing was on the wall; he had not regained the trust of the authorities and had to wait his turn.

“We now have no leverage..We have got negative equity. We wanted to knock on doors to see if we could find the money to put him in a proper rehab programme, but he hasn’t gone to Glasgow so he’s got no profile. Adidas won’t even give him a pair of spikes. His name has the opposite effect of what we desire.”

Return to track

Having missed four outdoor seasons since 2012, Manyonga returned to professional track competition in 2016. His talent had not faded away as he cleared a personal best 8.30 m (27 ft 23⁄4 in) in Pretoria in March.

"I can be the best jumper in the world right now. It won't take me long. By next year you will see flames."

The comeback was sweet as he won his first senior medal in almost five years at the 2016 African Championships in Athletics in Durban when he flew 8.23 m through the air.

He entered the 2016 Rio Olympics as part of the top 4 players in the tournament. He received a big reality check as he was surpassed by Jeff Henderson and had to be content with the Olympic silver medal.

Here is where it gets interesting. Manyonga struck gold at the 2017 World Championships in London, leaping up to 8.48 metres. Continuing a great run of form, he won the gold medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, jumping 8.41 metres in the final.

Is this the redemption of Luvo? Well, I seriously hope so. He is far from finished and if he continues to maintain his focus, the trophy cabinet is only to get more impressive.

“Not a hero or a millionaire. I want to be a normal person with a family, a person people look up to and say, ‘one day, I want to be just like him’.

Manyonga has now been clean for a while. Often after training, he closes the door to his room and stares at his whiteboard. On it, he obviously has scribbled the distance he wants to achieve in the near future, a whopping attempt close to nine metres. No one is allowed in the room.

This is Manyonga’s world inside a world, the place where his demons exist. He puts on his headphones and listens to the rapper Lil' Wayne. But he is still not sure that the ghost of Christmas past won't come back to haunt him again; the lure of the drug is something he hasn't completely gotten over.

“It will never stop bothering me until I go six feet under.”

McGrath seems sure of the choices that Luvo has:

“Luvo jumps or he dies. It’s that simple, because there’s nothing else – we don’t even get cocky about it; it’s too serious for that. Some people are born to do 10 things reasonably well. Luvo isn’t like that. He can only jump and he does it with the kind of talent I have never seen before.”