If there’s one person with whom Springbok Sevens veteran Rosko Specman would have loved to share winning a second Olympic Games medal with, it would have been his late dad Joseph.
The dual Springbok, who played one Test in XVs in 2021 against Georgia, on Saturday helped his sevens mates win a bronze medal at the Paris Games as South Africa beat Australia 26-19 at Stade de France.
Specman also made history with his second Games medal after he won his first bronze at the 2016 Rio Games and is the only South African rugby player to have medalled twice.
And of how special it is to have won again, Specman says: “What a journey it has been for me, to earn two medals eight years apart – that’s special. [In 2016] I was still a fresh aged young boy from Grahamstown and now I am more mature and I must say I appreciate it even more…”
The 35-year-old winger’s dad, Joseph, passed away in 2022 when Specman was still contracted at the Cheetahs and a year after making his Springbok debut.
After the death of his dad, who Specman describes as his biggest mentor, his form took a dip after moving to Griquas for a season, before returning to the Blitzboks.
And of winning another bronze medal but not being to able to share it with his dad, Specman says: “I did not cherish it [the first one] that much, but this one cuts deep, because there’s people that I’ve lost that won’t see this celebration...”
