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22 December 2022 | Story Jóhann Thormählen | Photo Anja Aucamp
Peter Makgato
Peter Makgato showed true perseverance in coming back after being out of action for more than a year with an Achilles tendon injury. The Kovsie long jumper won a bronze medal at the South African Championships in 2022.

If it wasn’t for Peter Makgato’s UFS support system, he would have been lost to South African athletics. The road of recovery after a serious injury can be lonesome, but he was never alone.

The promising long jumper had to learn to walk again after the injury to his Achilles tendon and could only compete more than a year after his dreams were shattered in November 2020.

Only months after returning to jumping in 2022, he was winning medals again.

Keeping me focused

“Without KovsieSport, I believe I would have hung up my spikes after that injury,” says Makgato. “Throughout the entire journey back, I had support from my coach (Emmarie Prinsloo; Head of KovsieSport Jumping Academy) and Oom DB (Prinsloo; Head of Athletics at KovsieSport).”

He also praises “the expert medical help” from Kovsie Health and says he went through nothing alone. “My progress was monitored by a team that knew me before the injury and this meant they were able to keep me focused on the progress and not on the injury.”

Although he had injuries before, Makgato says the emotional challenges were much bigger. “What really helped me were a few words from Wayde van Niekerk days after my operation when I went back to the track on crutches. He told me not to lose my head.

“That is the best advice you can give someone in my position. Physically I was broken, I had to make sure that mentally I fought to stay above the waters.”

Bigger goals in mind

He was only able to walk again from May 2021, started rehab in August 2021, and was running properly by December 2021.

He was only able to jump competitively again in March 2022, and a month later claimed a bronze medal at the South African Championships (7,47 m). This was followed by a USSA bronze in May 2022 (7,46 m).

“I had bigger goals in mind. Now that I look back, I realise that for a person who could not even run properly five months before and who had little preparation time, I was doing pretty good.”

And now the Master of Laws student has his sights on bigger things again: The World Athletics Championships next year and the Olympic Games in 2024.

News Archive

UFS tightens links with Netherlands’ Dronten University
2007-08-10

 

The University of the Free State (UFS) and CAH Dronten Professional Agricultural University, the Netherlands are expanding and strengthening the relationship between the two institutions. The focus of the cooperation will initially be within the Departments of Agricultural Economics and Animal, Wildlife and Grassland Sciences.

Prof. Herman van Schalkwyk, Dean of the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, visited Dronten recently to investigate the possibility and feasibility of a more formal linkage between the two institutions. That was followed by a visit from Dr Will Beckering to the UFS where a letter of undertaking was signed, paving the way for the establishment of a memorandum of understanding and implementation agreements.

Both the institutions share an interest in the training of emerging farmers; the carrying out of an agricultural skills development project; short-term visits of staff for consultations and lecturing; formulating and implementing projects on capacity development to broaden access to professional education; exchange of students for study programmes, placement projects; curricular development, more especially the possibilities of developing a joint master’s degree programme; and identifying the possibilities of the use of e-learning in joint educational programmes.

Signing a letter of understanding, were, from the left, front: Dr Will Beckering from Dronten and Prof. Herman van Schalkwyk, back: Dr Aldo Stroebel (Head: Internationalisation) and Prof. Izak Groenewald (Director: Centre for Sustainable Agriculture).

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