The date of 25 January 1981 will forever be remembered for a destructive force of nature as the historic floods in Laingsburg left more than 100 people dead.
The very next day, though, saw the arrival of a far more positive force of nature, with the birth of Kittie Terblanche( then Victor) in the nearby town of Prince Albert, after a treacherous drive on flooded farm roads from Merweville in the Koup region of the Karoo.
Now a married mom of two children, Terblanche has gone on to notch up her own veritable flood of achievement in a 16-year-long tug-of-war journey.
The 2026 World Tug-of-War Championships recently wrapped up in Mossel Bay, where the 45-year-old powerhouse now works as a stock system controller at the local Mediclinic.
At the conclusion of the championships, she was named TWIF( Tug of War International Federation) Female Athlete of the Year, the first South African, male or female, to be bestowed this honour.
“ This is undoubtedly the highest honour I’ ve achieved in my career, but without all my support structure none of this would have been possible,” said Terblanche.
“ The award doesn’ t necessarily mean I’ m the best puller but more about my passion for the sport and that’ s the biggest honour – and TWIF have also nominated me for the International World Games Association ' s Athlete of the Year.”
Terblanche took part in three categories at the 30th edition of the world championships – first the women’ s 500kg, where SA placed fourth( their best result to date in this category) and then the women’ s 540kg( sixth). She then won silver as captain of the mixed 580kg division, where the South Africans lost to Belgium in the final. It was also SA’ s first-ever medal in this division.
After matriculating at Langenhoven Gimnasium in Oudtshoorn, there was no money for tertiary education, and Terblanche started her working career at the local Merweville post office,“ licking stamps and envelopes”.
“ From a young age I always had this dream of becoming an air hostess and going on to see the world … Little did I know that tug-of-war would allow me to see the world!”
Terblanche was only introduced to the sport at a relatively late age when she met her nowhusband Heinrich.“ He took part in this‘ strange’ sport and seeing as we were getting together, I thought we may as well do it together.
“ That was in 2010 when the tug-of-war bug bit and the next year I won my national colours and things just went from strength to strength.”
Speaking about these latest world championships, Terblanche reckoned:“ Firstly, there was so much preparation, the 4am wakeup calls to go to gym for strength exercises( we all got special programmes). Every evening there was training and then Saturdays were training camps.
“ Some days were easy, but obviously there were some days where you just don’ t feel up for it, but I pushed through.”
Terblanche explained that the most challenging time is the weigh-in for championships.“ Your body is weak and then you must still lose weight!”
And for a woman who makes no secret of the fact that she loves to eat – put a big steak and cheese / mushroom sauce in front of her and she wears a smile longer than a tug-of-war rope – that was a testing moment.
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“ But what was ideal was that world championships were so close to home, not much travel involved, and we know the fields well, which is why we fared so well.”
What keeps her coming back for more, year after year?
“ It’ s simply because it’ s flipping nice, like coffee – once you’ ve experienced it you can’ t live without it …
“ Every year I say:‘ This is the last year’ and the next year there I am at it again. Your knees and back take strain, but luckily you can train to prevent this.”
There’ s also a reason very close to home that’ s going to keep Terblanche fully engaged for at least the near future.
“ I coach my 11-year-old daughter Aninka, and in two years’ time she can pull with boots so I’ m already hoping to build a team around the two of us one day …”
Terblanche is too humble to sing her own praises, so who better to do so than Helderberg’ s Gert Albertse, who coached the medal-winning mixed team at the world championships.
“ I have known Kittie for more than 10 years and have always known her to be an exceptional athlete. However, she is much more than just an outstanding tug-of-war competitor.
“ What truly sets her apart, however, is her unwavering determination. She believes in never giving up, especially because she never wants to let her teammates down.
“ Kittie’ s competitive spirit extends beyond tugof-war. I remember a championship in George where, between her pulling events, she entered a strongman competition and comfortably outperformed the other competitors.
“ If I were given the opportunity to build another team tomorrow, Kittie would be one of the first people I would select.”
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