The South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) President Gideon Sam played a big role in resurrecting the athletics career of Rio 2016 Olympic silver medalist Luvo Manyonga three years ago. When Manyonga leapt to 8.37m in the long jump final this morning, 14 August, and for a moment looked like a sure bet for a gold medal before America’s Jeff Henderson stole it in the final round by a tiny one centimeter. Manyonga, a 2010 World Youth Championship champion, had tested positive for methamphetamine (Tik) in 2011, he lacked a proper support structure especially after his coach Mario Smith passed away in 2014. This is when Sam came into the picture and helped him to relocate to Pretoria to be based at the High Performance Centre. And this is why the 25year-old will never forget Sam’s efforts that have resulted in him being the Olympic medalist he is today. These are the types of stories that prove once again that sport is very important in changing people’s lives. And it’s a statement that the Minister of Sport, Fikile Mbalula shares all the time and today, 14 August, he followed that up during a ceremony at the Olympic Athletics Village to celebrate Manyonga’s silver medal.