Josia Thugwane wins the Olympic marathon

On 4 August 1996, the last day of the Atlanta Games, Josia Thugwane won the Olympic marathon in 2:12:36, three seconds ahead of Lee Bong-ju of South Korea. Five months earlier he had been shot in the chin during a hijacking. Before his win he worked as a security guard and maintenance worker at the Koornfontein coal mine in Mpumalanga. He was the first black South African to win Olympic gold.