KZN bodybuilder dies after attempted backflip
A DURBAN bodybuilding champion died last weekend after an attempted backflip went badly wrong during a competition in Umlazi.
Sifiso Lungelo Thabete broke his neck after landing on his head.
Worried officials raced toward the former junior world champion when he remained motionless on the mat last Saturday at a community hall.
In a video posted online, the bodybuilder is seen entering a gymnasium and whipping up the watching crowd by flexing his muscles. The 23-year-old competitor then runs on to a gym mat and jumps in the air to attempt the back flip.
However, his body failed to gain enough momentum to rotate and Thabethe landed on the back of his head. His body then rolled over and he laid motionless on the mat before several people rushed to help.
According to Body Building South Africa, “Sifiso had a signature backflip” he liked to perform on stage.
The organisation’s executive president Wayne Price said: “We suspect, because he was wearing socks this time, that he slipped or didn’t get enough momentum and landed horribly on his head.”
South African bodybuilding magazine Muscle Evolution wrote of the champion: “The bodybuilding community was shocked and saddened by the tragic news of the death of Sifiso Lungelo Thabete, a bodybuilder from Umlazi in Kwazulunatal, on the weekend.”
It reports he was tipped for a bright future, having been a former International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness junior world champion in the up to 75kg category.
He had “impressed the crowd and the judges with unbelievable muscle size and maturity beyond his age in his most recent competition,” it reported. – Daily Mail