18-year-old silver medallist Walaza returns home to great fanfare

JOHANNESBURG - South Africa's athletes made a triumphant return to the country on Tuesday after competing at the Olympic Games.

Hundreds of people gathered at OR Tambo International Airport to welcome Team South Africa as they returned with six medals in total, their joint-highest total since 2012.

Eighteen-year-old matric pupil, Bayanda Walaza, was one of the medallists in Paris and has been backed to have a bright future.

The loudest cheers of the day were reserved for Walaza, who became the youngest athlete from the country to win an Olympic medal since the country's re-admission into international sport in 1992.

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Walaza's schoolmates outnumbered the rest of the crowd that featured friends, family and supporters of the athletes arriving home, who sang and waved flags to create a warm and festive atmosphere in the arrivals terminal.
 
And with stardom beckoning, one of Walaza's teachers at Curro Hazeldean said they don't think the well-mannered pupil will let fame get to his head.
 
"He attends class like all the others. He has to follow the same rules, he’s in the hostel as well, following the rules. So, he is being treated as all the others in school, and I think he likes that. He's a very humble boy," said one of his teachers.
 
His school has pledged to assist in any way they can even after he finishes matric.