William Mokgopo partners with international fashion brand

South African mountain biker, William Mokgopo, is the new South African ambassador for French sports-inspired lifestyle brand, Le coq sportif.

William will be an ambassador alongside radio DJ Fix Moeti from 5fm. The Brand Ambassador position entails product seeding, partnering for charitable drives, print advertisements in selected media, in-store visuals in retail stores, and media appearances. He is the first cyclist to be associated with the brand in the country.

“I’m really honoured to represent Le coq sportif and I’d like to thank them for recognizing my potential. For me, this is not just about apparel, it’s about a partnership with a brand that shares my vision and is willing to grow with me,” says William.

Despite his other sporting talents, William discovered cycling when he was 14 years old and has never looked back. After training for a few years with the Diepsloot Mountain Bike Academy, he was identified by Cycling South Africa to participate in the 2013 UCI MTB World Championships in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu Natal. The next year he competed in the 2014 UCI MTB African Continental Championships in Cape Town, Western Cape, and shortly thereafter he was signed to the Kargo Pro Cycling Team.

William has completed the 8-day Absa Cape Epic mountain bike stage race four times and is the Gauteng XCO champion. He most recently took the victory at the Momentum 947 MTB Challenge.

He has also been recognised as a role model locally and internationally. Last year, he was a finalist at the 2015 Gauteng Sport Awards in the Sports Personality of the Year category. In 2014 he was chosen by Beyond Sport – a global organisation that promotes sport as a platform for social change – to be a Young Ambassador for Johannesburg.

“I’m from a place where no one expects anything good to come out of and I’m just trying to inspire other youth in similar situations to see that with hard work, determination and a team of people who believe in you, you can achieve your dreams – no matter where you come from. I still have a lot that I want to achieve in my career and having the support of a world-class brand like Le coq is immensely important to me.”

“Le coq sportif upholds the idea of sport for everyone, as a source of endless pleasure and inspiration. William is a talented inspirational young man taking joy in cycling. He also embodies our values of humility, strength of character and represents a new cycling generation,” says a spokesperson for Le coq.

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