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News - Date: 02 August 2002
KUTAMA - An athlete from the dusty village of Muduluni ha Kutama, Mbulaheni Mulaudzi (21), shocked the athletics fraternity, when he won the gold medal in the 800 metres at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester, England, on Monday evening. In the process he beat the defending champion, Joseph Mutua from Kenya.
His time was 1:46.32, with Mutua in second place in 1:46.57 and Kris McCarthy of Australia won the bronze medal in 1:46.97.
It was South Africa's first gold medal on the track since Gert Potgieter won the 400 metre hurdles in Cardiff in 1958.
Mulaudzi attended Mmbambada Primary School and then went to Kutama High where he matriculated.
In an interview with a proud Mr Mukondeleli Mulaudzi, Mbulaheni's father, he said that he used to motivate his children to participate in sports and that he bought Mbulaeni soccer boots several times when he was still a soccer player. He added that he had been surprised when he saw his son participating in a marathon in Germiston in 1999.
Mbulaheni received a bursary from the Vaal Triangle Technikon in 2000 and is currently studying Sports Management at that institution.
Mulaudzi's gold medal performance has crowned what can only be described as a meteoric rise to fame. His running career started on the dusty roads and sports fields of a rural village in the Far North of the Limpopo Province, whose residents took his ability very much for granted, even after he won the national junior title.
After beating world-class Hezekiel Sepeng earlier this year, Mulaudzi began to gain in confidence. This victory made some of the community leaders back home sit up and take notice, but the magnitude of this week's victory over some of the world's best in far-away Manchester, has apparently not yet dawned on the remote community.
Among the many congratulatory messages which have reached Mulaudzi, is one from Limpopo Premier Ngoako Ramatlhodi, which describes Monday's win as one of the great moments in the province's history.
Kaizer Nengovhela started writing stories for Limpopo Mirror in 2000. Prior to that he had a five year stint at Phala-Phala FM as sports presenter. In 2005 Kaizer received an award from the province's premier as Best Sports Presenter. The same year he was also nominated as Best Sports Reporter by the Makhado Municipality. Kaizer was awarded the Mathatha Tsedu award in 2014.
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