Fighting like Mandela

In a sweaty township gym where Nelson Mandela once trained as a young boxer, athletes are still pumping iron today, inspired by the peace icon's example as he fights for his life in hospital.

Things haven't changed much since the early 1950s, when a youthful Mandela worked out at the Donaldson Orlando Community Centre, or the "D.O." as it's still affectionately known in Soweto. Spartan and slightly run down, the walls ooze with the intermingled history of sport, community life and the decades-long fight against apartheid. It was here that Mandela came to lose himself in sport, to take his mind off liberation politics.

Nestled in the heart of South Africa's largest township just south of Johannesburg, the community centre was also where famous African songbirds like Miriam Makeba and Brenda Fassie first performed.

The 1976 riots against the imposition of the Afrikaans language in black schools were planned from the D.O. as Mandela and other leaders languished in apartheid jails.

"Here, look, these are the very same weights Madiba used for training," proud gym instructor Sinki Langa, 49, said, using Mandela's clan name. "They have lasted all these years," he said as he added another set to a bar his fellow trainee Simon Mzizi, 30, was using to furiously bench-press, sweat dripping down his face.

Nearby, other fitness enthusiasts worked out to the tune of soothing music, which - unusually for a gym - included opera.