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Luvo Manyonga

Luvo Manyonga (born 8 January 1991) is a South African track and field athlete who specialises in the long jump. He won the 2017 World Championship in London and the 2018 Commonwealth Games title in the Gold Coast, Australia. He was the Olympic silver medallist in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro.

Manyonga was world junior champion in 2010, and the African Games champion in 2011. He competed at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics, placing fifth. He was the runner-up at the 2016 African Championships in Athletics.

During his career, Manyonga has been served with two doping bans. His second ban was issued in June 2021 when he was given a four-year ban following failure to provide anti-doping officials with sufficient information to complete drug testing. The ban will last until December 2024.[2]

He holds a personal best of 8.65 m (28 ft 4+1⁄2 in), set in 2017 in Potchefstroom.

Career

Early life and career

Born in 1991, Manyonga was raised in poverty by his mother in the Mbekweni township of Paarl, South Africa, after his largely absent father left her to care for him and his older brother and sister. His talent for long jump was soon recognized by local coach Mario Smith, who began mentoring him toward a professional career.[3]

Manyonga had his first international success at the 2009 African Junior Athletics Championships. Travelling to Mauritius, he jumped 7.49 m (24 ft 6+3⁄4 in) for the bronze medal.[4] He ended that year with a long jump best of 7.65 m (25 ft 1 in) as well as a triple jump of 15.54 m (50 ft 11+3⁄4 in).[5]

A breakthrough came the year after when he jumped 8.19 m (26 ft 10+1⁄4 in) to win at the Weltklasse in Biberach in Germany.[6] This jump was in the top ten all-time by an under-20 athlete at that point.[7] He delivered on that performance with a gold medal at the 2010 World Junior Championships in Athletics, becoming only the second African to win a horizontal jumps medal at the competition (after fellow South African Godfrey Khotso Mokoena. Seeing his progress, he set himself targets to qualify for the 2010 Commonwealth Games and the 2012 London Olympics.[8]

Africa Games champion

He arrived on the senior international scene in the 2011 season. Competing in Finland that July, he cleared a personal best of 8.26 m (27 ft 1 in), which ranked him in the top 15 in the world that year.[9] He qualified to represent South Africa at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics. After qualifying for the final, Manyonga's opened the final with a jump of 8.21 m (26 ft 11 in), which was his best of the competition and brought him fifth place at his first major competition.[10]

Two weeks later he appeared at the All-Africa Games and defeated former champions Ignisious Gaisah and Ndiss Kaba Badji to take the gold medal.[11] He was runner-up at the DecaNation in his last top level performance of the year.[12]

Tik use and doping suspension

In 2012, Manyonga opened his season with an eight-metre jump but struggled with the pressure of managing his prize money, as friends and family became financially dependent on him.[13] This led to debt and increased stress, while his coach Mario Smith stepped in to support his family. Around this time, Manyonga became addicted to tik, a local form of crystal meth, which he had first tried in 2011. He tested positive during a competition in March and admitted to using the drug recreationally, resulting in an 18-month ban from the sport.[14] At his doping hearing, Smith advocated for leniency, citing Manyonga’s poor background and lack of doping education.

After serving his suspension, Manyonga attempted a comeback in 2014, but paperwork issues kept him out of the 2014 Commonwealth Games. That same year, Smith died in a car crash on his way to visit Manyonga, who, spiraling again, missed the memorial after relapsing. The head of the National Olympic Committee, Gideon Sam, visited his home and, seeing his condition, arranged support and training at the High Performance Centre in Pretoria. Motivated by the fresh start, Manyonga resumed full-time training in 2015.[15]

Return to track and second ban

Having missed four outdoor seasons since 2012, Manyonga returned to professional track competition in 2016. His talent had not dimmed and he cleared a world-leading and personal best distance of 8.30 m (27 ft 2+3⁄4 in) in Pretoria in March.[16] He faltered at the South African Athletics Championships, mistiming his jumps and ending in 13th place.[17] He was back over eight metres on his IAAF Diamond League debut at the Golden Gala,[18] then claimed his first senior medal in almost five years at the 2016 African Championships in Athletics in Durban through a wind-assisted 8.23 m (27 ft 0 in). This made it a South African 1–2 as Manyonga was runner-up to Rushwahl Samaai.[17]

He entered the 2016 Rio Olympics ranked in the world's top ten jumpers.[19] In the Olympics, he was in the top four throughout the competition, leaping into the lead with his fifth round 8.37 m. He was surpassed by Jeff Henderson's final jump of 8.38 m to take the Olympic silver medal.

Manyonga won the gold at the 2017 World Championships in London, jumping 8.48 metres.[20] He went to win the gold medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, jumping a games record of 8.41 metres in the final.

Following a decision in June 2021, Manyonga served a four-year competition from December 2020 to December 2024 for a second anti-doping violation in relation to three missed tests.[21][22]

Personal bests

  • Long jump – 8.65 m (28 ft 4+1⁄2 in) (2017)
  • Triple jump – 15.71 m (51 ft 6+1⁄2 in) (2010)

International competitions

Year Competition Venue Position Event Notes
2009 African Junior Championships Bambous, Mauritius 3rd Long jump 7.49 m
2010 World Junior Championships Moncton, Canada 1st Long jump 7.99 m
2011 World Championships Daegu, South Korea 5th Long jump 8.21 m
All-Africa Games Maputo, Mozambique 1st Long jump 8.02 m
2016 African Championships Durban, South Africa 2nd Long jump 8.23 m w
2016 Olympic Games Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 2nd Long jump 8.37 m
2017 World Championships London, United Kingdom 1st Long jump 8.48 m
2018 World Indoor Championships Birmingham, United Kingdom 2nd Long jump 8.44 m
Commonwealth Games Gold Coast, Australia 1st Long jump 8.41 m
African Championships Asaba, Nigeria 2nd Long jump 8.43 m
2019 World Championships Doha, Qatar 4th Long jump 8.28 m

References

  1. ^ a b "Luvo Manyonga". eurosport.com. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
  2. ^ "Four-year ban for Luvo Manyonga". 18 June 2021.
  3. ^ Alfred, Luke (1 August 2014). "The impossibility of loving Luvo". Mail & Guardian. Retrieved 30 July 2016.
  4. ^ 2009 Africa Junior Athletics Championships – Full results. African Athletics (2009-08-02). Retrieved on 2016-07-30.
  5. ^ Luvo Manyonga. IAAF. Retrieved on 2016-07-30.
  6. ^ Wenig, Jörg (2010-07-11). Hingst improves to 4.72m in Biberach. IAAF. Retrieved on 2016-07-30.
  7. ^ u20 outdoor Long Jump men. IAAF. Retrieved on 2016-07-30.
  8. ^ Raynor, Kayon (2010-07-23). Manyonga follows in Mokoena's footsteps. IAAF. Retrieved on 2016-07-30.
  9. ^ "Senior outdoor 2011 Long Jump men". IAAF. Retrieved 30 July 2016.
  10. ^ Johnson, Len (2 September 2011). "Men's Long Jump - Final - Phillips takes record fourth World Champs gold medal". IAAF. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  11. ^ All-Africa Games, Maputo (Mozambique) 11-15/09/2011. AfricaAthle (2011-09-15). Retrieved on 2016-07-31.
  12. ^ Vazel, Pierre-Jean (2011-09-19). Lemaitre and Lesueur produce the highlights at DecaNation. IAAF. Retrieved on 2016-07-31.
  13. ^ Williamson, Norrie (21 March 2012). "Low key kick-off to South African series in Stellenbosch". IAAF. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  14. ^ "SA Institute for Drug Free Sport (SAIDS) – Anti Doping Disciplinary Hearing Mr Luvo Manyonga - Sports Federation Athletics South Africa (ASA)" (PDF). Drug Free Sport. 22 May 2012. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  15. ^ "Luvo Manyonga: From tik addict to Rio". Sport24. 19 June 2015. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  16. ^ Mohamed, Ashfak (2016-06-01). Luvo jumps at Diamond League chance. IOL. Retrieved on 2016-07-31.
  17. ^ a b Botton, Wesley (2016-06-23). Sprint double for Ivory Coast but hosts South Africa dominate at African Championships. IAAF. Retrieved on 2016-07-31.
  18. ^ Luvo Manyonga. Diamond League. Retrieved on 2016-07-31.
  19. ^ senior outdoor 2016 Long Jump men. IAAF. Retrieved on 2016-07-31.
  20. ^ Radnedge, Christian (5 August 2017). "Manyonga claims long jump gold to crown remarkable comeback". reuters.com. Retrieved 11 October 2017.
  21. ^ "Olympic long jump medallist Luvo Manyonga banned 4 years over missed doping tests". CBC. 18 June 2021.
  22. ^ Henson, Mike (9 October 2022). "Luvo Manyonga: World champion & Olympic silver medallist's drug fight". BBC News. Retrieved 23 April 2024.