South African Olympic silver medallist Luvo Manyonga is returning to action at 35 after years of drug addiction, two anti-doping bans and a collapse that took him to the edge of self-destruction.
Now three years clean, Manyonga says he is ready to return to what he loves most: athletics and the long jump.
He was banned twice during his career after anti-doping cases, first in 2012 for 18 months and again in 2020 for four years. The punishments did not stop his drug use, which continued for years.
Manyonga says he has been clean since 2023 and now holds a place at the World Indoor Championships in Torun, Poland. “If I take drugs again, it is death for me,” he said.
Manyonga had lived with addiction for as long as he could remember, chasing brief highs that had nothing to do with performance-enhancing substances but still led to two bans. At times he managed to keep his habit under control. At others, he could not.
He never held control for long, not even at the peak of his career. Even so, he managed to keep hold of the reins long enough to win South Africa’s first world long jump gold medal in London in 2017, a year after claiming Olympic silver in Rio.
His best jump, 8.65 metres a few months before that world title, stood as the best mark in the world for almost a decade. He had said his goal was to become the first man to reach nine metres.
At the time, that did not seem impossible.
But Manyonga was trapped in a vicious cycle, always chasing the rush of the next dose. After already serving an 18-month ban in 2012 for using tik, a form of crystal methamphetamine, he was banned again for four years at the end of 2020 for failing to provide whereabouts information for doping controls as addiction dragged him back into chaos.
The athlete who, as a teenager, used to jump over cars for fun and won over fans around the world with his explosive personality sank deeper and deeper into drug use.
After the death of his mother, without support and away from athletics, Manyonga fell apart.
“After my mother died, I decided my life was over. She was the pillar of my life. She kept me standing. The cart lost its wheels and everything went downhill,” he said.
The next three years passed in a blur of drugs. Manyonga mainly used tik, but also occasionally used crack, the free-base form of cocaine that can be smoked.
The only reminder of his old life was his identity card, which he showed people to convince them he was the same man who had once conquered the world of athletics.
“My life was crazy. I lived only for the next hit. I got to the point where I was stealing from people, grabbing phones, breaking into houses. That is how low I fell. I just wanted to numb the pain,” he said.
In 2023, while trying to get his next dose, he stole a phone from the daughter of a neighbourhood patrol member. When they caught him, they beat him with a baton.
Lying on the ground and taking a beating for yet another offence, he realised he had to change his life.
“I couldn’t walk for a week. That’s when I realised. I saw my life pass before my eyes,” he said.
He decided to leave his area and moved to the East Coast, away from drugs. He stayed clean, left crime and substance abuse behind and began training again when his ban ended in 2024.
A few months later, he was back on the runway for a small long jump meeting in Stellenbosch.
“It was very emotional,” he said.
His jump of 7.31 metres was a long way from his old standards, but it was a start, and for Manyonga that was enough.
With a new coach and a new routine, he improved steadily, reaching eight metres in October and 8.11 metres in February, a mark that secured his place at the World Indoor Championships in Torun.
“I’m human. I make mistakes. I’m not dressing them up. I had a problem but I learned my lesson,” he said.
He wants his story to serve as a warning, and perhaps a lesson: a child who went from poverty to fame without support. He did not finish school, and his family did not know how to handle his sudden success.
Today, he has been clean since 2023.
His energy and smile have returned. At 35, he is coming back as the oldest long jumper in the championship.
“I’m excited. I know I still have big jumps in me. I need to show the younger ones. I’m like a car that was parked for four years, but the engine is still brand new,” he said.
He has been through hell and come back. This time, he does not intend to waste the chance.
