Matthews Temane

Matthews Temane (born 1960) is a South African runner, who excelled over both middle distance running and long distance running, winning some 17 national athletics titles from 1982 to 1989, including seven 5000 metre title, four cross country titles, three half marathon titles, and three 10 km titles and who unofficially bettered the World half marathon record.

Career highlights

For many athletics enthusiasts Temane epitomised South African distance running in the 1980s. His career was characterised by great versatility and constant racing, as his situation in apartheid-era South Africa, made international competition in his prime impossible. His career highlights include a famous mile victory over his world class countryman, Johan Fourie in Potchefstroom in March 1983 in a time of 3:55.4 at 1350 metres altitude and won an epic duel in July 1987 against the then South African marathon record holder, Zithulele Sinqe in East London in July 1987 in an unofficial world best world record time of 60:11. For a distance runner, Temane had a very fast kick which allowed him to win many of his races in the final stages. Despite his numerous national titles and fame as a leading athlete he was always a humble and modest person. Observers of the sport have also commented on the strong sense of spirituality projected by him and his almost saintly demeanour.

Origins and early sporting history

Temane was one of seven children born into a family of modest means in Phake Ratlhagana now in Mpumalanga Province near [Hammanskraal], 30 km, north of Pretoria, in Gauteng Province. Like many young boys, as a child growing up in Hammanskraal, Temane's initial goal was to become a professional soccer player. He got married in 1989 and blessed with three children, which he abandoned them without any food, clothes, shelter and a better education and he appeared on sowetan newspaper in 2013 February saying he is single and he doesn't have any children. In pursuit of a soccer career, he trained with the police recruits at the local Police Training Academy during their physical training sessions. It was nevertheless soon clear that Temane's greatest sporting talent lay in distance running. Over and above his enormous natural talent, Temane was building up a substantial endurance base, running a total of 15 km to and from high school every school day after moving to high school in 1977. He was encouraged in this by his mother, who had shown promise as an athlete herself as a young woman, and sensed her son's great promise as a distance runner.