I was born in 1996, in Stockholm, Sweden – the second generation South African in my family born outside of our country due to my grandfather’s forced exile.

I grew up in Gothenburg and since the age of six I have been taking part in, and devoted to, all forms of board sports including wave surfing in South Africa and skateboarding in and around Sweden. When I was nine years old I first came into contact with snowboarding and this quickly became the biggest passion of my life!

Years later I was accepted into one of Europe’s most prestigious colleges; Norges Toppidretts-gymnas (NTG) – the Norwegian College of Elite Sport. I graduated in 2015 and am now competing at World Cup Events and the World Snowboard Tour full-time.

Above all else I have been inspired by the legacy that I have inherited from my late grandfather Joseph Edward Bosch (Eddie); the people’s struggle against apartheid! Eddie was a “political activist” forced to live in exile in Sweden and his brother Jonie Bosch was a “freedom fighter” in the Western Cape who was not only imprisoned but who suffered numerous house arrests and torture under the apartheid security forces. He subsequently died as a result of this, just a few years before my grandfather Eddie could return to his beloved South Africa, having been exiled for 34 years.

Today, I know that it is most helpful to have a plan that you work hard towards, as I have done throughout my school years, and a goal in life to achieve your dreams. I deeply believe that a man with a sense of a higher purpose, in which the goal is engraved in his soul, is the single biggest reason why I will one day achieve an Olympic medal for my Nation and make my grandfather proud!

– Anthon