The president of the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic and Paralympic Committee (SASCOC), Barry Hendricks, has led tributes from the governing body on the passing of former Comrades Marathon winner Jetman Msuthu.
“We received the news with deep sadness and shock,” Hendricks said. “Jetman was a road running icon. He won the Comrades in 1992 and was only the second athlete of colour to win the race. He was a role model and inspired a generation of road runners and he will be sorely missed.
The 68-year-old completed the Comrades Marathon 14 times between 1988 and 2016, earning three gold medals as well as 10 silvers and one bronze.
“Jetman added his name to Comrades folklore and he proved himself to be a true champion on and off the road. He rose to stardom with his 1992 win at a time when South Africa was experiencing seismic change from an apartheid state to democracy. He will forever be etched in our hearts and in the history books,” Hendricks said.
The Comrades Marathon Association (CMA) said in a release that Msuthu grew up in the small village of Lukholo, near Bizana in the Eastern Cape. He began running at the age of 18, completing his first marathon, and carried on running when he moved to the then Eastern Transvaal (now Mpumalanga) in 1975 to work at the Evander Gold Mine. He arrived on the Comrades scene with a proverbial splash, earning a gold medal with a sixth position on debut with a 5:49:32 finish, followed by three silvers, but it was 1992 that he is most famous for.
That year he finished second in 5:46:11, behind race winner Charl Matteus (5:42:34), and when he crossed the line, he actually thought he was fourth. A few weeks later, Mattheus tested positive for a banned substance and was subsequently stripped of the win, and Msuthu was declared the winner.
