Josia Thugwane (born 15 April 1971) is a South African retired long-distance runner, best known for winning the gold medal in the marathon at the 1996 Summer Olympics. Thugwane, who is of Ndebele heritage, is the first black athlete to earn an Olympic gold for South Africa.
Born in Bethal, Thugwane ran his first marathon in 1991, but his breakthrough to the international athletics scene came in 1995, when he won the Honolulu Marathon.
Just five months before the Games commenced, Thugwane was carjacked and shot; the bullet grazed his chin, leaving an inch-long scar, and he injured his back as a result of jumping from his moving car. The coalmine that employed him paid for his medical care and rehabilitation.
At Atlanta, in the 1996 Olympic marathon, a large leading pack stayed in contact with each other for most of the race, until at the 35 km mark when Thugwane initiated a break away and he along with Lee Bong-Ju from South Korea and Erick Wainaina from Kenya. They stayed together until entering the stadium, when Thugwane got a slight lead. Thugwane finished three seconds ahead of Lee for the closest Olympic marathon finish ever.
Thugwane had a very successful year in 1997 by winning the Fukuoka Marathon and he won the AIMS Best Marathon Runner Award that year. After that point his career performance dipped. He failed to finish in three successive marathons, and finished only twentieth in the 2000 Sydney Olympic marathon despite top ten finishes in the New York Marathon and London Marathon that year. In 2002 he won the Nagano Olympic Memorial Marathon in Japan.
He was awarded the Silver Order of Ikhamanga, South Africa's second highest cultural honour, in 2011.Zuma honours recipients of National Orders. SA News (2011-04-28). Retrieved 2020-05-23.
Statistics International competition record Representing 1992Potsdam–Berlin EkidenPotsdam–Berlin, Germany3rd5K (4th leg)14:07?Team1995World Half Marathon ChampionshipsMontbéliard–Belfort, France5thHalf marathon1:02:2812thTeam3:12:401996Olympic Games Atlanta, United States 1stMarathon2:12:362000Olympic Games Sydney, Australia20thMarathon2:16:592001World Championships Edmonton, Canada —Marathon2002World Half Marathon ChampionshipsBrussels, Belgium30thHalf marathon1:03:394thTeam3:07:292003World Championships Paris, France —Marathon
Professional races 1993 Tiberias Marathon Tiberias, Israel 3rd Marathon 2:18:42 Hyper to Hyper Marathon Pretoria, South Africa 1st Marathon 2:15:57 Honolulu Marathon Honolulu, United States 13th Marathon 2:29:161994 Gyeongju International Marathon Gyeongju, South Korea 28th Marathon 2:24:52 Chicago Marathon Chicago, United States — Marathon 1995 Honolulu Marathon Honolulu, Hawaii 1st Marathon 2:16:08 New York City Marathon New York City, United States — Marathon 1996 Fukuoka Marathon Fukuoka, Japan — Marathon 1997 Fukuoka Marathon Fukuoka, Japan 1st Marathon 2:07:28 London Marathon London, United Kingdom 3rd Marathon 2:08:061998 London Marathon London, United Kingdom — Marathon New York City Marathon New York City, United States — Marathon Great Scottish Run Glasgow, United Kingdom 2nd Half marathon 1:02:47 Great North Run South Shields, United Kingdom 1st Half marathon 1:02:321999 London Marathon London, United Kingdom — Marathon Great Scottish Run Glasgow, United Kingdom 3rd Half marathon 1:03:01 Great North Run South Shields, United Kingdom 17th Half marathon 1:05:42 Fukuoka Marathon Fukuoka, Japan 26th Marathon 2:17:012000 London Marathon London, United Kingdom 8th Marathon 2:10:29 New York City Marathon New York City, United States 6th Marathon 2:15:25 Great Scottish Run Glasgow, United Kingdom 10th Half marathon 1:04:32 Lisbon Half Marathon Glasgow, United Kingdom 11th Half marathon 1:05:292001 Seoul International Marathon Seoul, South Korea 2nd Marathon 2:11:52 Honolulu Marathon Honolulu, United States — Marathon 2002 Nagano Marathon Nagano, Japan 1st Marathon 2:13:23 Two Oceans Half Marathon Cape Town, South Africa 1st Half marathon 1:04:15 JoongAng Seoul Marathon Seoul, South Korea 7th Marathon 2:10:052003 Nagano Marathon Nagano, Japan 2nd Marathon 2:14:18 Göteborgsvarvet Gothenburg, Sweden 3rd Half marathon 1:04:14 2004 Milano City Marathon Milan, Italy — Marathon 2005 Vienna City Marathon Vienna, Austria — Marathon Honolulu Marathon Honolulu, United States — Marathon 2006 Two Oceans Marathon Cape Town, South Africa — 56K Warsaw Marathon Warsaw, Poland 4th Marathon 2:17:11 2007 Two Oceans Marathon Cape Town, South Africa 2nd 56K 3:09:46
National titles South African Athletics Championships Marathon: 1993, 1996
See also List of 1996 Summer Olympics medal winners List of African Olympic medalists List of marathoners List of Olympic medalists in athletics (men) List of South African sportspeople Marathons at the Olympics
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