TuksSport Director Kobus van der Walt hailed 2012 as “another golden year for the University of Pretoria, one in which we made our presence felt at almost every level of international and national sports participation”.

To prove his point Van der Walt referred to:

► the 111 Tukkies who represented South Africa at senior national level (90 as athletes and 20 as officials), 33 of whom took part in the Olympic and Paralympic Games in London. One Tuks athlete represented Mozambique at the Olympics;

► Tuks athletes who won three of Team SA’s six medals at the London Summer Games: one gold (James Thompson, Matthew Brittain, John Smith and Sizwe Ndlovu in the Men’s Lightweight Four), one silver (Caster Semenya in the 800 m women) and one bronze (Bridgitte Hartley in K1 women 500 m);

► the 76 Tuks athletes and coaches in national age group and federation teams;

► the 22 students who represented South Africa at International University Sports level; and

► the 224 athletes and coaches who were members of senior provincial teams.

The other 2012 award recipients are:

Coach of the Year (team sports): Steve Barker (football). Coach of the Year (individual sports): Roger Barrow (rowing). Student Sportswoman of the Year: Lee-Anne Persse (rowing). Student Sportsman of the Year: Willie de Beer (athletics). Student Administrator of the Year: Coreen Walstra (rowing). Administrator of the Year: Wim Dreyer (fencing). Sports Personality of the Year: Oscar Pistorius (athletics). Sports Club of the Year: TuksNetball/TuksCricket. Student Sports Club of the Year: TuksRowing. Principal's Award for Outstanding Performance of a team representing the University: Rugby (UP-Tuks 1). Principal's Award to a Student for Exceptional Performance in both Academics and Sport: Willie de Beer (athletics). Newsmaker of the Year: Caster Semenya (athletics).