MAKHADO – Kutama’s favourite son did it again. Mbulaheni Mulaudzi achieved almost the impossible, when he won a silver medal in 800 meters in the Olympic Games in Athens last Saturday.

The 800-meter race was one of the most competitive events on the track and field programme of the Olympics, with athletes like world champion Wilson Kipketer (the former Kenyan who is now participating in the colours of Denmark), Wilfred Bungei of Kenya (the fastest in the 800 metres this year), Yuriy Borzakovskiy of Russia and the old fox, Hezekiel Sepeng of South Africa.

The Russian athlete won the race in 1:44.45, with Mulaudzi second in 1:44.61 (his best of the season) and Kipketer third in 1:44.65.

This is not the first time that the 23-year-old (he turns 24 on Wednesday) Mulaudzi proved that he has Big Match Temperament. After he narrowly failed to be included in the team for the 2000 Olympics, he won the gold medal in the 800 metres in the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester in a time of 1:46.32. Joseph Mutua of Kenya won the silver medal. In March this year, Mulaudzi proved that he is exceptionally fast for a 800 metre athlete, when he became the 800 metre world indoor champion in Budapest, Hungary, in a time of 1:45.71, beating the rising star, Rashid Ramzi of Bahrein.

Before the start of this year’s Olympics, the South African team bestowed honour on him, when he was selected to carry the national flag during the opening ceremony of the games.

Mulaudzi’s father, Mr Mukondeleli Mulaudzi, was over the moon with his son’s achievement in the Olympics. He told correspondent Kaizer Nengovhela that his son phoned him on Saturday morning and told him that he was not feeling well. He told his dad, however, that he would come back with a medal.

“When I saw him on the track, I looked at his face and told his mother that he was going to win,” the proud father said. He thanked all the supporters and said the medal is a medal for the whole country, and not only for the Mulaudzi family.

In his reaction to Mulaudzi’s accomplishment, the MEC for Sport, Arts and Culture, Mr Joe Maswanganyi, said the achievement should be inspirational to all other young people, especially those in rural areas. “This achievement makes a simple statement that Limpopo, like other provinces, has talent that can compete anywhere in the world,” he said.

The mayor of the Makhado Municipality, Cllr Rhulani Nkuzana, stated “Mbulaheni belongs to us, before he belongs to the Limpopo Province and the rest of South Africa. He put Makhado on the world map. A citizen of Egypt even told me that Mbulaheni represented the whole continent of Africa.”

Nkuzana said the other youth must stand up and unleash their talents.