Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 108, July 2018 | Page 20

ROAD RUNNING
Thabang Mosiako wins the 2017
FNB Joburg 10K CITYRUN
The Incredible Comeback
After surviving a brutal attack in February that had many thinking his running career was prematurely over, Thabang
Mosiako not only returned to running incredibly quickly, but also stronger than before, and he says it is all down to
magnesium. – BY SEAN FALCONER
In 2017 Thabang claimed the men’s 5000m title at
the SA Senior Track and Field Champs, putting in
a stunning last lap to close down Olympian Elroy
Gelant’s 200m lead. Later that year he won the FNB
Joburg 10 CITYRUN, and in January the second-year
human resource development student at Boston City
campus in Potchefstroom won the
SA Cross Country Trials to qualify
for the SA team going to the CAA
African Cross Country Champs
in Algeria in March, but the brutal
attack seemed to have put an end
to those plans.
happy, because I had managed to finish, and under
the top 30 as well. It really showed me that I can run
again,” says Thabang, who went on to finish 12th
and fourth South African in the FNB Cape Town 12
ONERUN in May.
THE FATEFUL NIGHT
According to Rantso, the three friends stopped at
Varsity Café in the early hours of the morning to buy
some food. While Thabang and Sandy waited outside,
he found himself in the queue to pay behind three
apparently drunk white men, one of whom began
swearing at the elderly black woman working the till.
That prompted Rantso to intervene. “I asked them
can you please pay and go, because what you guys
are doing is not right, but those guys got angry. There
was another white guy behind me in the queue, and
he also said to the drunk guy to stop, but nothing
happened to him. The drunk guy just focused on me.”
Amazingly, though, he made
an incredible recovery from his
injuries and not only resumed
running, but made it to the African
Champs just over a month after
the attack, where he finished a
very creditable 26th and third
South African home in the men’s
10km. “My preparation did not go
to plan because of the attack, but
after running my race, I was so
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ISSUE 108 JULY 2018 / www.modernathlete.co.za
When Rantso came outside, the group had grown to
about 10 men who then attacked him, so Thabang
and Sandy tried to help their friend. Passing police
officers came and stopped the fight, but appeared to
take the side of the white men. “The police started
beating us with batons, as if we were the ones who
were in the wrong,” says Rantso. Having received
no help from the police, the three tried to get away
from their attackers, who began chasing them. “It
happened so quickly, and then we were running for
our lives,” says Thabang.
Shockingly, Rantso says they came across another
police vehicle and asked desperately for help, but
were ignored, and stopping for help just allowed the
chasers to catch them once the police drove away.
“Sandy went one way and Thabang went the other.
I was fighting two, but then they left me and went
to Thabang. I saw them hitting and kicking him, and
when they finished he was lying unconscious with
blood on his head. Then more
police came and they called the
ambulance.”
RECOVERY
BEGINS
Thabang woke up the next day
in hospital and says while lying
there, his thoughts turned to
the attack, and how he had
kept thinking about his wife
Thandi (who was SA under-23
Champion over 1500m last
year), and their young son
Mpho. “I thought I would die
there, and kept thinking what
would happen to them if I lost
my life,” he says. Fortunately,
his injuries were not as severe
T
he South African running community was
shaken in February when news broke of an
apparent racially-motivated attack near the
North West University campus in Potchefstroom on
two well-known black athletes, SA 5000m Champion
Thabang Mosiako and SA 3000m Steeple Chase
champion Rantso Mokopane, along with their friend
Sandy Londt. The initial reports said that Thabang
was in a coma after suffering severe head injuries,
having had his head repeatedly kicked and bashed
against the pavement. There were doubts whether
he would recover from his head injuries, let alone run
competitively again.