By Amit KamathOriginal Source: firstpost.com

Luvo Manyonga reckons he should have been dead. His voice doesn't flinch as he says this. It doesn't quiver with fear or gets weighed down by emotion. He says it with the deadpan conviction of a man who has seen the worse coming for him and survived by the sheer force of his will.Manyonga is 26 years of age. He is a Rio Olympics silver medal-winning long-jumper. A 2017 World Championships gold medallist. An icon for South African youngsters.Back in another life, Manyonga used to be a drug abuser, addicted to ‘tik’, a local variant of crystal meth in South Africa. Back in another life, Manyonga had been banned from competitive sport for 18 months after testing positive for meth.Back in another life, Manyonga should have been, as he puts it, dead.“During the days when I was addicted, there were two nights when I was sleeping under a bridge. I was staying under the bridge and struggling to sleep at night because of the drugs. I was just trying to get through the night. I kept thinking that my life is gone. I had run away from my family just to go sleep under the bridge. And I almost died at one stage under that bridge, because there were...click here to continue reading