First year Management student Martinique Du Preez raked in four medals at the recent World Transplant Games in Malaga, Spain, including a gold in ball throw.
Besides the gold medal, Martinique also won silver medals in javelin and long jump as well as bronze in the 100 m sprint.
He defied a major obstacle to make his dream a reality after falling ill three weeks before leaving South Africa for the tournament.
“The fact that I could just participate in the World Transplant Games, was a major achievement,” he says.
“A lot of hard work and sweat went into making that dream a reality; it was truly an honour.”
Martinique had to prepare mentally and physically to win the medals in his sports codes.
“Training was and is still a daily thing; ball throw comes naturally as I was born in a rural area.”
He says ball throw was a breeze, so he already knew he would bring back the gold.
“I was out of action the last three weeks before I left. For an able or differently-abled athlete that’s bad but for a transplant athlete it’s disastrous because my chronic medication breaks muscles down, so three weeks is literally a year.”
Martinique was once dubbed the Miracle Boy by surgeons at Groote Schuur Hospital because he beat the odds to receive not one but two kidneys.
He would like to encourage his fellow students to register as organ donors.
