04 May 2019, by: Carl Lewis

Who is the Greatest South African Sportsmen?

Only eight athletes remain in our “Who is the Greatest South African Sportsman” and unfortunately, eight had to fall out of contention.

READ ALL 16 PROFILES HERE

Let’s go through a quick rundown of the Last of 16 round.

Olympic and Commonwealth Champion Chad le Clos beat the endurance runner Ryan Sandes while Leeds and Bafana icon Lucas Radebe overcame another South Africa sporting heavyweight in Jacques Kallis.

Caster Semenya beat Natalie du Toit in a high profile matchup while Makhaya Ntini took the victory against World Champion mountain biker Greg Minaar.

Global superstars Ernie Els and Wayde van Niekerk beat Schalk Burger and Penny Heyns respectively. In the last two matchups, Bryan Habana saw off Hank McGregor and Benni McCarthy beat out Jordy Smith.

After the Last 16 round and there are some tasty matchups in the quarterfinals:

Caster Semenya v Makhaya Ntini

Chad le Clos v Lucas Radebe

Ernie Els v Wayde van Niekerk

Bryan Habana v Benni McCarthy

In the Bet.co.za, a debate raged on about who the greatest South African Sportsman would be, it is a very subjective debate as some sports get way more attention than others while other South Africans have quietly become world-class in their field without much media hype. So we decided to put this question to a vote, “Who is the Greatest South African Sportsman ?” – please note that athletes that competed since sporting readmission in 1992 were only be considered.

So we decided to group 16 of the best South African athletes who we feel have a claim to the title of Greatest South Africas Sportsman together. We randomly drew the 16 athletes into a last 16 bracket (see below). You can vote on Twitter and you see below how the tournament will unfold.

When the voting goes live on Twitter @betcoza – here considerations for you voting

1. World-class in their sporting code
2. Considered the best in South Africa (at some stage)
3. Global impact in their code
4. South Africa impact in their code
5. Legacy
6. Their personal story to get to the top

. Give it a try and send your best XV’s on twitter to @betcoza.