Beating the Odds: Amputee athlete Xolani Luvuno completes Comrades Ultra-Marathon

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02:35

And now to South Africa, where an amputee athlete has completed one of the most gruelling events on the running calendar, the Comrades Ultra-Marathon. Xolani Luvuno ran the entire race on crutches. CGTN's Julie Scheier reports.

Xolani Luvuno proved that nothing's impossible when he finished South Africa's most trying ultra-marathon, on crutches.

JULIE SCHEIER PRETORIA "Xolani, thanks for joining us again. It's a year since we spoke. You've completed this epic journey of finishing the Comrades. How are you feeling?"

XOLANI LUVUNO SOUTH AFRICAN AMPUTEE ATHLETE "I'm proud and I'm happy of my goal, no excuses because I don't have an excuse like I didn't finish the Comrades because it is the thing that I want."

Luvuno, an amputee, has made a habit of defying the odds. He survived bone marrow cancer while living on the streets and kicked a drug habit.

HEIN VENTER COACH "His dream was so big and he, he fell in love with his dream. And there was no way he was going to give up on his dream. And there's no way he was gonna fall back and turn to all sorts of nonsense."

The ultra-marathon athlete modestly attributes his success to his coach.

XOLANI LUVUNO SOUTH AFRICAN AMPUTEE ATHLETE "If Mr. Hein Venter is not there for me, I can't do that thing. If I don't have a support, someone like Mr. Hein Venter, cause it's not easy. He supported me in the drugs before, in the alcohol. So for me that guy it's a father, it's everything."

Luvuno now has his sights set on the iron man competition in January. But his first Comrades has been a special experience.

XOLANI LUVUNO SOUTH AFRICAN AMPUTEE ATHLETE "It's the crowd who make me power. It's my pain-blocker. I didn't feel like on that time I'm feeling like I'm a star, I'm Ronaldo. Like, all of the fans they call my name, Xolani, Xolani, and I push on that time. I'm feeling like it's me, number 1."

The runner's achievement has earned him a hero's status in his community.

MODISE RESIDENT IN MAMELODI "Young people get inspired when they see just Xolani, especially these days knowing that he finished his Comrades Marathon on his crutches."

"We were talking before Comrades that - is he going to make it, is he going to die, what is going to happen? But there he managed to finish, he was even faster than me."

JULIE SCHEIER PRETORIA "Xolani didn't cross the line in record time when he ran the Comrades. But the fact he finished has inspired and touched many across South Africa and the World. Julie Scheier, CGTN, South Africa."