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Khune has got it made



Spain was a godsend for Itumeleng Khune. Just two days after his controversial naming as the Sports Star of the Year at the SA Sports Awards, South Africa's No.1 goalkeeper and national captain showed why he is the people's choice as the most admired sportsman in the country. He dished up man-of-the-match performance whose fame reverberated all over Spain and the world beyond as the world champions succumbed to Bafana. It was a friendly, all right, but Spain were here to win.

Parker's world class did the magic while Khune's heroics secured the win for SA.
So what was the controversy with him winning the Sports Star award, with its R1million plus luxury? Khune in the past year did not achieve more than several other sports stars in arenas home and abroad. His club Kaizer Chiefs won the league-cup double. But as far as international competition is concerned, Khune did not get any look in both as Chiefs and Bafana player because there is no success that can be linked to him from that sphere. Therein lies the rub. When the category of Sports Star of the Year was introduced to the SA Sports Awards a few years ago, nomination criterion pointed to success on the international front. 
This does not mean winning in Spain or the US, but outperforming the best in the world in your sport event even if that happened in Garankuwa or Griekwastad.

Chiefs did not play in any international competition in the past year, while Bafana's participation was marked by monumental failures in Cup of Nations finals and World Cup qualifiers. Khune as a result was wrongfully nominated for this award. The public and other journos pointed out this discrepancy when nomination was confirmed, but the organisers, the Sports Department, ignored this protest.

The public vote decides the winner here, and Khune prevailed. Congratulations to him; he's an excellent sportsman, but not the top star for SA in the past year. On Tuesday night the masses marvelled at Khune's goalkeeping skills again, and you cannot blame them thinking the Ventersdorp-born is the best of the best. They don't know much about the exploits of other nominees, notably swimmer Chad le Clos, because his multiple world record feats they did not see. It all happened on channels the majority have no access to. Even families of DStv Compact clients did not see Le Clos matching the achievement of the biggest Olympic champion of all time, Michael Phelps. This happened in Barcelona in August, during the Swimming World Championships. He rounded off a great season with more victories and world records in the World Cup series earlier this month.

In conclusion, Khune is more visible to the voting masses, while Le Clos international victories are known by a very few in South Africa, and that was reflected Sunday night at Sun City. Tuesday night President Zuma and former president Thabo Mbeki walked into the changeroom to congratulate Khune and his boys for a job well done against Spain. Who can beat that?


Verdict: Let athletes who earned international glory be nominees for Sports Star category. Others can be nominated in the regular Sportsman or Sportswoman of the Year.

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