NELSON MANDELA ALIKUWA MWANAMICHEZO PICHA ZA MATUKIO MBALIMBALI YA MANDELA KATIKA MICHEZO

True Lion: Mandela holds an England shirt given to him by David Beckham (left) in South Africa in 2003

Nahodha wa zamani w Bafana bafana Lukas Radebe kushoto na kulia ni kiungo wa zamani wa England David Beckham

Shujaa: Rais wa zamani wa Afrika kusini marehemu Nelson Mandela, ambaye amefariki hapo jana akimkabidhi nahodha wa Springbok  Francois Pienaar taji la dunia katika uwanja wa Ellis Park mjini Johannesburg mwaka 1995

Wanasema michezo na siasa ni vitu viwili ambavyo havichanganyiki lakini wakati fulani vinafungamana na kwa ushahidi mzuri ni wakati wa michuano ya kombe la dunia 'sunny day' mjini Johannesburg ilikuwa Juni 24, 1995 wakati ambapo marehemu mzee Nelson Mandela alipokabidhi taji maarufu kama Webb Ellis Trophy kwa Francois Pienaar.

If any single act could be ascribed to the dramatic re-birth of South Africa as the ‘Rainbow Nation’,
it was surely the sight of a 76-year-old black man clad in a Springboks jersey and cap taking centre stage.

Mandela’s presence on the field meant far more than that of a triumphant epilogue to a tumultuous personal biopic that had seen him released from 27 years of incarceration - mostly on the notorious Robben Island - and become elected president of South Africa just over one year earlier.

Knight to remember: Sir Bobby Charlton meets Mandela on a Manchester United tour in 2006

TRIBUTES TO MADIBA

Ronaldo: Thankful Madiba for your legacy and your example. You"ll always stay with us.
Usain Bolt: One of the greatest human beings ever..May your soul rest in peace..The worlds greatest fighter…
Tiger Woods: I've been influenced by him. I got a chance to meet him with my father back in '98. He invited us to his home. It was one of the most inspiring times I've had in my life.
Lewis Hamilton: One of the most special moments in my life was meeting the great Madiba. One of the most inspirational human beings to have lived & without doubt the nicest man I ever met. I will miss you, we will miss you Madiba. I love you like a son loves a father.
Bryan Habana: R.I.P Tata Madiba Thank you for the inspiration and hope. May your legacy live on forever.
AB de Villiers: Let us now, more than ever, stick together as a nation! We owe him that much. #madiba you will be missed! #tata #inspiration #leader
Sepp Blatter: It is in deep mourning that I pay my respects to an extraordinary person, probably one of the greatest humanists of our time and a dear friend of mine: Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela
Steven Pienaar: In tears The Father Of the Great Nation Have Past On. R.I.P TATA MADIBA.
Mike Tyson: I'm hearing about Nelson Mandela's death while on African soil in Oran, Algeria. Sending prayers to Mandela's family
Aaron Ramsey: Such sad news but what a great man and huge inspiration. RIP
Jack Wilshere: 'The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.' Love this one! Great man! NM!
Sir Bobby Charlton: 'Mr Mandela worked tirelessly all of his life for racial equality and his legacy will live on way beyond our lifetime. I feel blessed to have lived during his life span and privileged to have met him on a number of occasions. God bless my friend, Madiba.'

Here was the first indelible image of a post-apartheid nation: Mandela revelling in a victory by a team whose colours had for so long represented many of the very worst aspects of South Africa’s oppressive and racist history.

Only a handful of years earlier, with Mandela still locked up and the nation still black-listed from international sport, the sight of him, as president, handing the trophy to the strapping Afrikaner Pienaar, would have been unthinkable.

The image of that joyous handover has come to symbolise more about South Africa’s re-emergence than any other at the time: arguably, more even that Mandela’s swearing-in as president itself.

'Sport has the power to change the world,' Mandela, who died on Thursday, said in a speech in Monaco in 2000. 'It has the power to inspire. It has the power to unite people in a way that little else does.

'It speaks to youth in a language they understand. Sport can create hope where once there was only despair. It is more powerful than government in breaking down racial barriers. It laughs in the face of all kinds of discrimination.'

Surely not even the harshest cynic of the sweeping changes being made by Mandela’s government could have picked out any kind of political gesture in his desire to immerse himself so fully in the Springboks’ success.

'I have never felt so tense,' Mandela told Sports Illustrated of the experience of watching them fashion victory over New Zealand. 'I felt like fainting.'

The joy on Mandela’s face following South Africa’s 15-12 victory was plain for all to see.

Mandela’s belief in sport as a uniting force was not something that came to him late in life. It was a conviction he clearly held from his youth, when he was a keen distance runner and amateur boxer.
In his autobiography, The Long Walk To Freedom, Mandela wrote: 'Boxing is egalitarian. In the ring, rank, age, colour and wealth are irrelevant.'

He added: 'It was a way of losing myself in something that was not the struggle.'

Timeless: Morgan Freeman as Mandela and Matt Damon as Pienaar in the 2009 blockbuster biopic Invictus.

Honour: Pele (left) and Samuel Eto'o (right) present Mandela with a jersey to celebrate his 89th birthday in 2007.

Gift: Sir Alex Ferguson hands Mandela a Manchester United shirt during the tour in 2006

The Kaiser and the President: Franz Beckenbauer with Mandela in 2003

Meeting: Cristiano Ronaldo with Mandela in 2010 and the former South African president with the World Cup

Tribute: England and Australia (below) observe a minute's silence in memory of Mandela before the start of day two of the second Ashes Test in Adelaide.

Icon: The crowd salute Mandela before day two of the second Ashes Test in Adelaide

  South Africans react to news of Nelson Mandela's death 

 

Mandela’s presidency may have come to an end in 1999, but he showed no intention stepping back from his fundamental belief in sport as a balm for future generations.

FIFA’s short-lived decision to rotate the football World Cup through continents fell right into the grateful hands of a newly-confident nation, and there was no way Mandela was going to be shunted to the sidelines.

Morocco launched a persuasive counter-bid, but the feeling was that this tournament was South Africa’s - and Mandela’s - destiny: one for which both had patiently waited and richly deserved.

Hosting the 2010 competition would be 'the perfect gift to celebrate 10 years of democracy in South Africa', said Mandela during the final presentations, and there were few inclined to deny him.

The South Africa World Cup shone a light on many of the social problems still afflicting the nation - poverty, disease and crime - but then Mandela never shied away from acknowledging that his Rainbow revolution was unfinished.

Bondia wa uhuru: Mandela alikuwa mwanamasumbwi na aliwahi kukaririwa akisema 'In the ring, rank, age, colour and wealth are irrelevant'

 Robinho (kulia) na Emmanuel Adebayor (kushoto) wakimsalimia Mandela mwaka 2009

Mshambuliaji wa Brazil Ronaldo de Lima (kushoto) akiwa na Mandela mjini Cape Town mwaka 2005

On the pitch and in the stadiums it was a vibrant affair, from an opening ceremony tinged with sadness at the absence of the man who helped make it possible because of the tragic death of his great-grand-daughter hours before.

Mandela was back to make a fitting appearance for the final at Soccer City, wrapped up and at the age of 91 cutting a frail figure compared with the beaming president who had skipped on to the pitch to embrace Pienaar.

There was the unavoidable sense that as Mandela feasted on the action, he knew his particular sporting legacy was complete.

Be it the victorious red shirts of Spain or the green and gold Springbok jersey he had worn in the same city 15 years earlier, Mandela had used sport to bring colour to a nation whose history was all too brutally defined by black and white.

Old Bill: Coach Jake White and captain John Smit take the Webb Wllis trophy to Mandela when they win in 2007

Mandela coatation about boxing 

 

" Boxing is egalitarian.  In the ring, rank, age, color, and wealth are irrelevant . . .
I never did any real fighting after I entered politics. 
My main interest was in training; I found the rigorous exercise to be an excellent outlet for tension and stress.  After a strenuous workout, I felt both mentally and physically lighter. 
It was a way of losing myself in something that was not the struggle. 
After an evening's workout I would wake up the next morning feeling strong and refreshed,
ready to take up the fight again. "