7) Anaso Jobodwana:
This is surely a year Jobodwana will not forget in his athletics career, as he finally breached a podium finish on the international stage. The 23-year-old South African etched his name in glory when he powered to Bronze at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing.
Having gotten to the 200m final at the London 2012 Olympics as a 20-year-old where he finished 8th in a time of 20.69s, Jobodwana was gathering enough experience that came in handy this year.
2015 happened to have worked out well for him. He got a couple of 2nd place finishes in the Diamond League this season and was neck to neck with Panama’s Alonso Edward competing for the Diamond Race trophy.
So Jobodwana was very competitive and brewing with confidence coming to Beijing, although that was punctured a bit when he got disqualified in the heats of the 100m; however he wasn’t deterred.
Jobodwana set a PB in each race he stepped out for in Beijing, going on to run an NR en route winning Bronze in 19.87s. When you are the next person after the legendary Usain Bolt and Justin Gatlin in a race, then you must be very good.
That was the story of Jobodwana, and he will have no shame to have finished 3rd; after all he can brag that he was only beaten by Bolt and Gatlin… the two athletes who can beat anybody in the world. On more than three occasions he did NRs: 20.04s at the Prefontaine Classic and 20.06s at the Cayman Invitational. Jobodwana is ranked 4th on the 2015 IAAF list.
Well done our continent,when it comes to athletics..Africa is the best!!!Big ups to my country Botswana!!