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Ramaala still has heart of champ at 40

IN THE RUNNING: Hendrick Ramaala quit his administration job at ASA to get his athletics career back on track. File photo
IN THE RUNNING: Hendrick Ramaala quit his administration job at ASA to get his athletics career back on track. File photo

Tribute from South Africa's sports minister for the first South African to qualify for 5 Olympic Games

THE age of 40 is the new 21. This is an important life milestone. It is the beginning of a new age. The beginning of growth and maturity.

Hendrick Ramaala is a marathoner par excellence. Having won at the New York marathon some time ago and flown the South African flag high, at the age of 40, Ramaala has redefined the rules of competitive sport.

He has ensured that his name is among those of the youngsters who are pushing to represent the country at the London Olympics.

He is a marvel to watch in these marathons. He continues to move mountains in his preparations to ensure South Africa is a force to be reckoned with in marathon running.

We know and understand that he still has to beat Steven Mokoka, Coolboy Ngamole and Lusapho April. But he is posing a big challenge to the youth.

He has set the standard for many of our young people.

We want our youth to ensure that when we preach the school sport programme, we are talking about adding longevity to their life span.

They should and must therefore take physical education at school seriously.

Hendrick Ramaala is an ambassador of hope.

The fact that we are working hard to ensure our kids have that longevity in sport and in their lives is important.

Ramaala has participated in four Olympics and London, should he qualify, will be a milestone - competing with young people from all over the world.

In him we believe. Siyaya eLondon, and we are sure we will bring home the medals that will be a source of great pride and hoist our country's flag high!

Our young athletes need to take responsibility for their lives. It really hurts to see our young athletes losing their lives at an early age.

The death of Jeffrey Ntuka, and the circumstances surrounding it, is disheartening and not the way a national capped player should die.

Ntuka had his future in his hands and it was cut short. We lost a young athlete. The fact that he went through the development programme of the country's School of Excellence, Chelsea FC, Kaizer Chiefs and SuperSport United shows the calibre of athlete he was.

We lost a soldier. We lost a torchbearer. We lost a brother, a father, a husband, a son. Yes, we lost a future in him.

We were hopeful that we would see him in the league of the likes of Hendrick Ramaala, John Moshoeu, Roger Milla and other veterans, but that was just a dream. Rest in peace, Jeffrey Ntuka.

Now that the Nicholson Inquiry into the Cricket SA matter has finalised its oral and written presentations, a full report is expected this month. We would like to thank all South Africans who made written and oral presentations before the judge and his team.

Let's be accountable and ensure that sponsorship and government grants go to the sport it is meant for so that we can have a healthy sporting environment. We should invest our energies, as a sporting fraternity, into improving governance, marketing and financial fitness as part of encouraging sponsors to have the courage to invest those needed resources.

Sponsors must smile and be eager to invest in sport if our image is clean. We are busy knocking at the sponsors' doors and they are busy knocking at our doors to invest in the school sport programme. Thanks to businesses like Yfm and SAB-Miller for sending those proposals to construct sporting fields for our young minds.

Let's all do this so that a new Doctor Khumalo, Phil Masinga, Mark Fish and the likes will emerge. They will emerge photo-shoot fresh. You watch and learn.

Good luck South Africa!

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