Career
He ran a personal best marathon of 2:08:58 in 1985 in Portuguese Elizabeth, but was unable to compete outside South Africa, barred from the 1984 and 1988 Olympic Games due to the international boycott of South Africa. On 24 July 1993, Plaatjes became a citizen of the United States., just three weeks before the World Championships. Stuttgart was to be the greatest success of his career.
The race had been led by Luketz Swartbooi from Namibia for a very long time.
But the Namibian slowed down in the very final stages and was overtaken by Plaatjes three minutes before he reached the finish line, in a time of 2:13:57. Plaatjes has made his home in Boulder, Colorado, where he has a hand in several local businesses and coaches a local running club
Flotrack.com Interviews of Mark Plaatjes.