Mthatha bodybuilder Zanovuyo determined to win gold in Spain
Vanda has been competing for over 10 years
He was judged the third best bodybuilder in the world in the lightweight division in Spain last year, but as Mthatha’s top bodybuilder Zanovuyo “Virus” Vanda prepares to return to the same stage this week, he has just one thing on his mind — victory and bringing home the elusive gold medal.
The diminutive 32-year-old is among a host of SA bodybuilders who will be competing against some of the best athletes on the planet at the International Federation of Body Building World Championships and Fitness in Santa Susanna, Spain, from November 3 to 7.
“I am not thinking of anything else but victory come November.
“The preparations are going well and I truly believe I stand a good chance of winning,” Vanda said.
Last year, he finished third in the lightweight division out of 16 world-class bodybuilders at the global showpiece, bringing home the bronze medal.
But the Kwabhaca-born competitor said he was a bit disappointed because he did not have time to adequately prepare for the showdown.
“My preparations were very difficult. I battled to raise about R20,000 for the trip and even before that, we spent almost the entire year in 2020 sitting idle at home. We could not go to the gym and were only allowed to return towards the end of the year.”
He said normally he took between eight to 10 weeks to prepare and get in shape for the competition. To further complicate things, air travel prices suddenly shot up after the lockdown.
But some people close to him, such as the owner his gym, Mfundiso Sibembe, and former OR Tambo District Bodybuilding Association chair Bongani Manyonya, ensured that he did not miss the spectacle.
Just a little over a decade ago, Vanda didn’t have a clue about the sport of bodybuilding and never imagined that he would one day be considered an elite bodybuilder.
Growing up in Qwidlana village, the closest thing to the sport that he was exposed to were movies and photographs showing the chiselled physiques of Hollywood action stars such as Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone.
And when he started going to gym while studying social work at university in Kwazulu-natal in 2010, it was all about getting a six-pack and big arms — until a close friend took him to watch a bodybuilding competition.
A year later, Vanda entered his first-ever competition and came third. At that moment, he knew what he wanted to do and spent the next year working on improving his body.
In 2013, he entered the OR Tambo Bodybuilding Championships and was selected to represent the province at the SA Championships, where he finished third.
A year later, he came second in the bantamweight division and in 2014 was crowned national champion in the division.
In 2015, Vanda got his first chance at international stardom after being selected to represent SA at the world championships in Spain.
“It was my first international competition and I was just happy to be there.
“However, I had no experience whatsoever. I didn’t know what to expect or at what level the other competitors were. You could say I was just a tourist,” he said.
But being on stage convinced him that anything was possible in life.
In 2017, Vanda returned to Spain for another shot and was placed sixth. He said he was disappointed at the time because he had hoped to improve on his fifth position from two years previously.
But he was also proud because he was the only member of Team SA who brought home a medal.
In 2019, he missed out on representing the country in Dubai because he was unable to raise enough money for the trip.
And in 2021, he went back to Spain and finished third. He said due to the many disruptions to his training and preparations, he did not really expect to be on the podium.
The athlete who lists the late Vusumzi Njisane, a former SA national bodybuilding champion from the Eastern Cape, as his idol, said: “If my preparations were good, I would have brought home the gold medal last year.”