WAYDE van Niekerk for president!
How exciting was that, the boykie from Grey College smashing Michael Johnson’s 17-year-old world record to take gold in the 400m at the Rio Olympics.
(Incidentally, how do you know if someone went to Grey College? He tells you.)
Although he was born in Cape Town, Wayde went to the prestigious Bloemfontein school (more renowned for its rugby and cricket greats) and was coached by a 74-year-old great-granny, ‘Tannie’ Ans Botha! What a fairy tale!
Then, well done to all the other SA athletes who won silver or bronze and… can we expect a few more to come? Caster, you show ’em, girl.
However, thanks to a Facebook post by my friend Carole Potter, a quick browse on the web for more golden moments at the Olympics this week revealed one other record that South Africa really shouldn’t be proud of.
According to the World Health Organisation’s ‘global status report on road safety of 2015’, our country is a runaway ‘winner’ when it comes to deaths related to drunken driving.
Not only is South Africa rated ‘one of the most dangerous countries in the world for road accidents’, but we ‘outshine’ everyone with nearly six out of every 10 deaths related to alcohol.
A staggering score of 58 percent.
‘Silver’ goes to Canada on a distant 34 percent and ‘bronze’ to America on 31 percent. Russia doesn’t even shape on a mere nine percent. (Maybe vodka makes one too drunk to get to the car?)
Where the South Coast stands in the sub-stats is anyone’s guess, but based on the number of crosses and wreaths one comes across while driving along our roads we could be right up there.
There’s never a week that the Herald and its sister newspapers do not feature stories and photographs of horrific accidents.
However, there might be a little light at the end of the tunnel as the moans and groans about beachfront booze binges seem to have died down of late.
Well done to all concerned for doing whatever to quell these nefarious activities that get the community in a froth with wrath.
Hopefully it’s not just a cold weather thing and that there will not be a sudden revival of revelry when the festive season comes around again.
The WHO stats are certainly nothing to boast about and that should be enough to convince local law enforcement to have zero tolerance.
It’s the sort of ‘race’ one really wants to strive to come last in.
Currently, China and India ‘suck’ at drinking and driving. Bravo!
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