We are all proud of the brilliant performance of South Africa’s Paralympics 2008 stars, most notably Oscar Pistorius and Natalie Du Toit, for their athletics and swimming prowess respectively.

But did you know that South Africa has a new sporting hero? If the name Zweliwile Hans doesn’t mean anything to you yet, read on…

The crowd is hushed, waiting in anticipation. Will the Kiwis do what everyone assumes and take all the medals? Will there be any unexpected surprises?

There is a moment of breathless anticipation and then a sound breaks the silence….. “Baaaaaaaaaaaaa!”

And they’re off!

Shears snip and snap, blades flash, greasy wool flies about and the crowd goes wild.

It’s the 13th Golden Shears World Championships in Bjerkreim, Norway and 100 sheep shearers, representing 28 countries, are competing for a variety of titles and awards over 4 days in early October 2008.

The sheep lining up for the fastest haircuts of their lives look a little nervous, but they might be pleased to learn that shearers who cut their animals lose points.

Event spokeswoman, Elin Ravndal Bell, explains: "This is not just about speed but is also a question of technique.” This explains why, although these professional sheep stylists can do the job on one sheep (using shearing machines) in as little as 20 seconds, on average they’re taking between 30 and 40 seconds here in order to avoid careless mistakes leading to penalties. Using scissors or blades takes up to 2 minutes a pop.

Countries participating include Australia, Montenegro, France and the US of A, but no-one is too surprised when New Zealand walks away with both the individual and team events in wool handling and machine shearing.

However participants from Southern Africa did us proud with Lesotho snatching the team blade shearing title when they sheared 10 lambs in 13 minutes, 49 seconds, and South Africa's Zweliwile Hans walking off with the individual blade shearing trophy, finishing 10 lambs in 21 minutes 20 seconds.

Not baaaa..aaa...aad!