Freestyle football great makes history with ninth world title
Johannesburg, South Africa — A man of many talents, South Africa’s Peter Mokgale has gone from the football field to the pinnacle of sport.The 35-year-old has now captured the world’s imagination with his record nine gold medals in the men’s competition at the 2013 London Olympics.
“I’ve learned that I am the king of the mountain. Every day I am improving to the next level,” says Mokgale.“There are times when you’ll say, ‘Oooh, I am done!’ But you take it with a pinch of salt. You keep trying,” he said.
The journey to reach the top began with a failed attempt to break the 10,000 points barrier. Mokgale started off playing club football for a nearby team but struggled at the lower division level. He then moved to college and played football for a local university, but still struggled with club level football and eventually went to a commercial college where he learned to play football on the professional level.
It was then that he met one of the world’s highest scoring footballers, and former National Professional Football League (NPFL) player, Oscar Pike. The first time they met, Pike told Mokgale that he would have to be perfect if he wanted to make such a claim.
Mokgale now holds the all-time world record for points in a single tournament. He was victorious on 13 occasions, and he broke the record in the semi-finals of the 2013 Beijing Olympics. He did it, not only for points, but for goals also. He now believes that it is not a matter of quantity, but of ‘quality’.
During his time at university, Mokgale was also very talented on the track and field sports arena. He won the gold medal in the 5000 metres in the 2005/2006 season. The man known as Peter the Mountain now has not only the world’s highest scoring record for goals in a single game, but, as well, he is the highest scoring football player in the world.
It was at this point that Mokgale decided to focus on football. And he was right.
“I think it is