Star ‘ready to face demons’

IN AN exclusive interview with The Star’s sister paper, the Cape Times, SA long jump star Luvo Manyonga shared how the death of his mother had taken a toll on him,.

He spoke for the first time on Tuesday, after being handed a four-year ban by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU), for “whereabouts failures”, including a missed doping test on November 26, 2019.

The AIU said that because it was Manyonga’s second anti-doping rule violation, the ban was increased to four years instead of two, as well as a nearly R20 000 award to World Athletics that the athlete will have to pay.

World Athletics said Manyonga had made no submission in mitigation.

Manyonga said the death of his mother, Joyce, at the end of last year, had been hard on him. Two months ago he consulted a traditional healer about what was going on in his life.

The 30-year-old from Mbekweni, Paarl, who has battled with drug addiction in the past, said he was ready to fight his demons.

“I was nowhere to be found for my (AIU disciplinary) tribunal and the cause of that is finances, but I am not making that an excuse for my behaviour. It’s just … not being stable and focusing on my career, doing some stuff that normal people do.

“I do not understand how my agency did not know about my whereabouts because they knew I was with my sister,” he said.

Athletics South Africa has committed itself to helping Manyonga. It said it was “totally gutted” by the four-year ban and it would continue with the process of sending out a “seekand-find intervention team” to help him.

Manyonga won a silver medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics, as well as gold at the 2017 world championships and 2018 Commonwealth Games.

He is also the SA record holder, with a distance of 8.65m.

The family learnt about his ban on social media.

They are hopeful that if he gets the help he needs, he will return to the sport and do what he loves.

His father, John Manyonga, appealed for the public’s support, as his son aims to appeal the ban.

“I know my son very well, he is a fighter… We ask the people not to give up on him,” he said.