Blanche Moila, who in 1983 became the first black woman athlete to be awarded the original Springbok colours, walked off with the Shoprite Checkers-SABC3 Woman of the year award for sport last week.
”Being awarded the Springbok colours was the highest accolade that athletes were awarded because South Africa was not allowed to compete in any international events, I was overwhelmed by the prestige,” said Moila.
”There was no affirmative action and no quota systems in those days, so one had to work extra hard as a melanin-enriched person,” said Moila. ”I dominated the sport provincially and won most titles in Natal. I also won a few titles nationally.”
Moila remembers one incident where a melanin-deficient woman said she should let the ”miesies [madam]” finish ahead of her.
”I was fortunate enough to be around wonderful people and didn’t encounter a lot of racial problems. Most people accepted me,” she said.
The psychiatric nurse entered a race at a hospital sports day and a friend told her that she had an economic running style. ”At school, women were not encouraged to do any sport. When I did start running, I ran for fun and didn’t know much about sports,” she said. ”I then started running 1 500m for Natal. I went on to run different track races and cross-country.”
Moila has won 40 titles in the 1 500m, 3 000m and 5 000m, 10km, 15km, 21km, 42km, as well as cross-country.
At 45, Moila still runs marathons and cross-country. She says she has to prepare for races mentally and physi-cally. ”I won the Championship Marathon in Durban last year. In preparation for races I will run 8km to 10km twice a day, and repeat this routine three times a week. I also work out at the gym twice a week and will do hill work in the afternoons,” she said.
Moila works as a nursing sister at King George Hospital in Durban and is the chief professional nurse in charge of nurse’s duties. ”I also visit schools and motivate young kids and try showing them that there’s a better alternative to drugs. Drugs are a big problem in the community and I want children to know that they can be on a natural high if they take sports.”
She co-managed the South African team at the 21km world champ- ionships in Belgium this year. She is involved in training young women from disadvantaged homes. ”Sometimes you will find kids that want to enter competitions do not have the required R20 to enter. I help them with that and anything else they might need,” she said.
”Women’s sport has come a long way, but there’s still much more that needs to change. Some communities are still opposed to women in sport,” Moila said. ”Some believe that women will not be able to bear children if they are involved in sport or that they will become men.”
Moila says more women now participate in sport, which shows that mindsets are changing and that society is headed in the right direction since the day she stumbled into the sport 21 years ago. But she is still overwhelmed by the recognition she received.
”I’m humbled by the whole occasion. There are still so many women who are doing a lot for their communities who should also be celebrated,” Moila said. ”We do not do this for the recognition, we do it because we want to help those who need to be helped and it’s wonderful that people appreciate the work that we do.”
What about the famous doek that she wears, even when running?”It’s my persona. It’s the African in me and something that I adopted years ago; now my fans say I should never go without it.”