'When Luvo Manyonga breaks 9m it’s going to be huge,' says agent

Olympic long-jump silver medallist Luvo Manyonga still battles the demons of drug addiction‚ but he and his team insist he remains on track to become the first man in the world to clear nine metres.

Manyonga’s agent‚ Lee-Roy Newton‚ issued a statement on Wednesday morning confirming that Manyonga was in a rehabilitation programme in Pretoria‚ as he was in the build-up to the 2016 Rio Games.

But Newton laughed off suggestions that Tuks-based Manyonga‚ who served an 18-month ban after testing positive for methamphetamine‚ known colloquially as tik‚ in 2012‚ had fallen off the wagon.

“He jumped 8.62m two weeks ago and was tested straight afterwards‚” Newton told Times Media Group.

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“He’s been clean since he was in the programme last year.” The SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) and the University of Pretoria’s high performance centre issued a joint statement in March last year saying he needed “professional counselling”.

Newton’s statement on Wednesday was issued in conjunction with Athletics SA.

Newton explained it was issued in case people got the wrong idea of Manyonga’s participation in the rehabilitation facility’s after-care programme‚ which the jumper rejoined early in the year.

“Luvo has battled drug addiction for many years and openly acknowledges that it is a daily challenge to fight his addiction‚” the statement said.

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“Luvo … has now enrolled in the facility’s aftercare programme to continue with his rehabilitation and achieve his dream of becoming one of the world’s greatest-ever long-jumpers.

“Luvo remains fully committed to WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) and SAIDS (SA Institute for Drug-Free Sport) testing requirements and as per the requirements of the facility‚ submits to regular monitoring.

“The continuation of his treatment in the facility simply provides the best structure to achieve his personal and performance goals as it allows him to focus fully on the demands of training and competing while under the care and support of a professional support team.”

Manyonga‚ the 2010 world junior champion‚ was quoted in the statement saying he had struggled with “substance abuse since I was a teenager”.

“It has been a difficult journey. I wanted to release this statement to show others that there is no shame in your past and empower others to shake off the stigma associated with addition …

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“I am committed to staying drug free and I want to achieve great things in my career and life. To achieve my goals and dreams I understand that I will need all the support I can get.”

Newton said Manyonga’s ultimate goal was to break one of the last two great milestones of world athletics.

“One is to break the sub-two hour marathon and the other is to break 9m in the long jump.” The 8.95m world record by American Mike Powell has stood since 1991. “When Luvo breaks 9m it’s going to be huge.”

- TMG Digital/TMG Sport