Background and career
Mbulaeni Tongai Mulaudzi OIB (8 September 1980 – 24 October 2014) was a South African middle-distance runner, and the 2009 world champion in the men's 800 metres.
His first global medal was a silver at the 2000 African Championships in Athletics. He later won a bronze at the 2003 World Championships in Athletics, which came a year after his victory at the 2002 Commonwealth Games. Mulaudzi was a gold medallist at the 2004 IAAF World Indoor Championships and won two further silver medals at the competition in 2006 and 2008. He was a runner-up at continental level on three occasions, taking the 800 m silver at the African Championships in Athletics in 2000 and at the All-Africa Games in 2003 and 2007. He carried the flag for his native country at the opening ceremony of the 2004 Summer Olympics, where he became an Olympic silver medallist.
His personal best for the 800 m was 1:42.86 minutes. He ranked first on time in the 2006 and 2007 seasons, becoming the first Black South African to achieve such a feat.
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