South Africa's best sportsmen and sportswomen

CHAD LE CLOS:

In just his second Olympic final, the kid buries legendary Michael Phelps in the 200m butterfly. Added a silver medal to his haul in the 100m fly race to become only the 14th South African to win more than one medal at a single Games.

CAMERON VAN DER BURGH:

He played second fiddle to Le Clos, but the gold medal he won in the 100m breaststroke at the Olympics was no less sensational. It was a race he had planned for for months, and he executed it to perfection in a world record.

SA ROWERS:

The lightweight four were nowhere on the radar before the London Olympics. But Sizwe Ndlovu, Matthew Brittain, John Smith and James Thompson stunned the world to bag SA's first-ever Olympic rowing gold.

ERNIE ELS:

The Big Easy had been written off, but he fought back like a true champion to win the British Open for the fourth major victory of his career. That makes him just one of 27 people on the planet to have won four or more majors.

BRIDGITTE HARTLEY:

Kayaking had proved elusive for South African Olympians in the past. Ruth Nortje and Shaun Rubenstein had tried and failed, but Bridgitte Hartley produced a gutsy performance to squeeze out a bronze medal in London.

BRANDEN GRACE:

Just 24, this golf star won four European Tour titles this year. It started with back-to-back wins at the Joburg Open and the Volvo Golf Champions, where he beat Els and Retief Goosen in a play-off. Then he won the China Open in April and in October capped off his year with the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship crown.

MORUTI MTHALANE:

At the beginning of the year South Africa had four bona fide world champions. Only one survived - Mthalane. He had to go to Panama to defend his IBF flyweight crown, and he did it in style, stopping Ricardo Nunez in the eighth round.

ANASO JOBODWANA:

Out of the blue this lightning bolt from the Eastern Cape jetted into the 200m final at the Olympics, in the lane alongside Usain Bolt. It was one of the biggest moments of the Olympics and South Africa was present. Yes, Jobodwana got smashed in the final, but even still, it has been decades since SA has had a sprinter in a Games final - that's the top eight in the world!

LEHANN FOURIE:

If you're wondering why Caster Semenya isn't on this list, it's because she should have won gold and didn't. But nobody expected much from Fourie, who was selected as a wild card for the SA team yet made the final of the 110m hurdles in London. Like Jobodwana, he gives SA fans good reason to be optimistic for the 2016 Rio Olympics.

TOMMY OOSTHUIZEN:

Forget the fact that his super middleweight belt belongs to the peripheral IBO, his performances this year have been good enough to convince The Ring magazine to promote him to No4 contender on their rankings. That makes him the fifth-best super middleweight on this planet right now.