South Africans, we’re a different breed. Last night’s victory in rugby’s greatest rivalry got us thinking about all the times we’ve genuinely conquered the best in the world, on and off a sports pitch …

Firstly, did you know we have one of the highest percentages of Nobel Peace Prize winners per capita? The highest are the Swiss, interestingly. Or how we changed the course of medical history nearly 60 years ago? And we can count one of the most statistically decorated golfers ever as ours?

EIGHT TIMES SOUTH AFRICANS CONQUERED THE WORLD South Africans from all walks of life, from Benoni to Zwide, have put us on a global map. Image: File

It’s kind of our thing, backs to the wall, punching above our weight against all sorts of adversity.

So, here are eight verified moments where South Africans really were undeniably the best in the world …

1. FOUR NOBEL PEACE PRIZE LAUREATES

Albert Luthuli in 1960, Desmond Tutu in 1984, then Nelson Mandela and FW de Klerk jointly in 1993. Four Nobel Peace Prize laureates from one country in just 33 years. All tied to the fight against the end of apartheid, this feat puts South Africa in genuinely rare company on the world stage.

2. SPRINGBOKS’ FOUR RUGBY WORLD CUPS

Count them: 1995, 2007, 2019 and 2023. Four titles make the Springboks the most successful team in Rugby World Cup history. The first men’s side to achieve that, edging past our great rivals, New Zealand with three. Genuinely, objectively, one of the best national teams to play any sport … ever.

3. CHARLIZE THERON’S OSCAR

Benoni-born Theron won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 2004’s Monster, the first and only Oscar for acting won by a South African to date. Of course, the film Tsotsi won Best Foreign Language Film in 2005. The award is technically presented to the submitting country rather than an individual. So, we’ll take that, too.

4. WORLD’S FIRST HEART TRANSPLANT

Dr. Barnard put South Africa and Groote Schuur Hospital on the global map back in 1967. Image: File

On 3 December 1967, Dr. Christiaan Barnard led a 30-person surgical team at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town to perform the world’s first human-to-human heart transplant. It reshaped modern medicine and made an unknown Cape Town surgeon and hospital household names overnight.

5. ELON MUSK, RICHEST PERSON ON EARTH

South Africans either love him or loathe him, but the world’s richest man has a birth certificate from Pretoria. Granted, Musk left South Africa at age 17 and has publicly denounced the country on numerous occasions, but he did become the world’s first trillionaire in June 2026. That’s some kind of drive and ambition for you …

6. GARY PLAYER’S NINE MAJORS

Nine major championships and a career Grand Slam completed at just age 29. Gary Player is one of only five golfers in history to pull that off, next to legends like Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods. Player was born in Johannesburg and is still one of the most statistically decorated to ever play the game.

7. THREE MISS UNIVERSE CROWNS

Margaret Gardiner in 1978, Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters in 2017 and Zozibini Tunzi in 2019. Three South Africans that conquered the best in the world. Three wins ties South Africa with Sweden and places us among the top eight in Miss Universe history.

8. WORLD’S LARGEST RADIO TELESCOPE

The South African component of the Square Kilometre Array in the Northern Cape. Image: File

Not an individual but a collective cross-border effort, the Karoo desert in the Northern Cape hosts the mid-frequency component of the Square Kilometre Array. Its precursor, MeerKAT, has been operational since 2018 and is already the most sensitive telescope array of its kind in the world.

But what do you think? Did we leave any out? Are there South Africans more deserving than those mentioned above? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below …