Born and raised in Chatsworth outside Durban, a student in Cape Town, Paralympic debutant in Rio de Janeiro, and world champion in both Paris and Kobe, Mpumelelo Mhlongo has become a true citizen of the world.
Fortunately, hes South African, and one of the country's Paris Paralympics gold medal prospects will be one of Team SA's two flagbearers when the 2024 Games burst into life on Wednesday night.
The 30-year-old is taking part in his third Paralympics and this time he has real prospects of a win. He has a dazzling CV and having competed in the last Paralympics in Tokyo in the T64 category, where he finished fifth in all of the 100m, 200m and long jump, hes back in the T44s where it all started.
In the T44 classification the para-athlete must have unaffected knee joints allowing for controlled power delivery but they must focus harder to sense and grip the track surface while maintaining good running posture and symmetry.
Which brings us to the 30-year-old. In introducing himself he told SuperSport TV: My Instagram handle is phantom toes, and the condition is referring to when people have been amputated and they feel a phantom limb.
