One of the proudest traditions in TuksSport is how athletes and coaches step up during the Olympic Games to beat the world's best.

Statistics confirm this. Since the 2012 Olympic Games in London, Tuks's athletes have won nine medals (4 gold, 4 silver and 1 bronze). Playing around with numbers equates to Tuks winning 47.36% of South Africa's Olympic medals at the last three Olympic Games. South Africa has won a total of 19 medals since 2012.

From 26 July, there is a real chance that one or more of the Tuks athletes will be standing on the podium in Paris. The names Tatjana Smith and Pieter Coetzé immediately come to mind.

During the South African Championships in Gqeherba, Smith won the 200m-breaststroke in a time of 2:19.01. It is currently the fastest in the world. In the 100m-breaststroke, she has the third fastest time (1:05.41). She is the defending 200m-breaststroke Olympian champion. During the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, she also won silver in the 100m-breastroke. 

Earlier this year, Coetzé was the only South African swimmer to have won a medal at the World Championships in Doha. He was third in the 200m-backstroke (1:55.99). The 19-year-old won gold, silver and bronze at the 2022 Commonwealth Games. What Coetzé might lack in international experience, he makes up with guts and determination.

The third-year medical student, Edmund du Plessis, could surprise and qualify for the 800-metre men's final. He is in excellent form at the moment. Apart from being the South African Champion for the second consecutive year, he has won two of the five international races in which he has competed. He qualified for the Paris Games, running 1:44.49. It ranks him as one of the six fastest 800-metre athletes in South Africa's sports history.

From a statistical perspective, Jovan van Vuuren could medal. He qualified for the Games by jumping 8.30 metres. His performance ranks so far as the ninth-best this season internationally. If the Tuks master’s student could have that perfect jump and medal it would be one of the Paris Games's feel-good stories.

In March 2023, Van Vuuren was told by a doctor that the chances of him ever competing at the highest level were close to zero. His right hamstring tendon was on the verge of snapping. If it did, he would have had to undergo an operation, and there were no guarantees. He could have ended up walking with a limp for the rest of his life. Van Vuuren refused to give up on his dreams. He only got the green light in October last year to train on the track again.

It might be worthwhile for Tuks sports fans to follow John Smith and Chris Baxter's rowing heroics in the men's pairs during the Paris Games. Smith is undoubtedly one of the legends of South African rowing. Apart from winning gold at the 2012 Games, he also won gold in 2014 during the World Champs in Amsterdam. The Tuks alumni was also victorious as an under-23 rower, winning gold in 2010 in Brest during the World Champs. He took a sabbatical after the 2021 Tokyo Games. Smith only seriously started to train again last year. It is the fourth time he will represent South Africa at the Games.

Baxter is no slouch himself when it comes to rowing. In 2022, during the World Under-23 Championships in Italy, he and Damien Bonhage-Koen won gold in the men's pairs. Their winning time of 6:19.99 was also a world record.

Paige Badenhorst will compete in the women's single sculls in Paris.

One of the most memorable moments of her career was in 2022. She was part of the Cambridge team that beat Oxford and set a new course record (18:22). It was the 76th time the two women's crews faced off on the River Thames.

Wian and Patrick Roux might make South African sports history by being the first dad-and-son combination to go to the same Olympics. As far as it could be established, this is the first dad-son combination to do so since 1992. Roux, a former African champion and record holder, will compete in the recurve archery competition. His dad, Patrick, is his coach.

When glancing at the teamsheet of the Springbok women's sevens team going to the Paris Olympic Games, it is clear that Tuks is where good players get an opportunity to be extraordinary.

Five of the Bok team's players finetuned their rugby skills playing for the Tuks sevens side. Last year, Nadine Roos was South Africa's Women's Sevens Rugby Player of the Year, and Libbie Janse van Rensburg was the 15-code Women's Player of the Year.

Both of them will be playing in Paris. Roos as scrumhalf or centre and Janse van Rensburg as flyhalf. In their days playing for Tuks, they have combined countless times to score tries, setting up Tuks to victory. Their flair has even led to Tuks beating some national sides in international tournaments.

Kemi Baloyi captained Tuks to win the inaugural Varsity Women's Sevens tournament in 2019. She played for the Boks Sevens during the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

Marlize de Bruin has quit netball to focus on playing sevens rugby in 2022. Doing so, she proved that 'change is as good as a holiday'. At the end of the year, she played for the Boks at the Sevens World Cup in Cape Town.

There were often references to De Bruin being South Africa's fittest netball player. She has the distinction of being part of teams that won every major local netball tournament.

Liske Lategan is the fifth Tuks player who will play for the Boks in Paris. She was also selected for the 2022 Commonwealth Games. Lategan is the niece of Pieter Hendricks, the winger who scored the first try for the Springboks during the 1995 World Cup tournament.

Other Tuks athletes and coaches who will compete at the Paris Olympic Games are:

Swimming: Erin Gallagher, Kaylene Corbett, Matthew Sates. Rocco Meiring (coach).

Athletics: Neil Cornelius and Samuel Sepeng.

Hockey: Edith Molikoe and Calvin Davis. Sihle Ntuli (coach).