Josia Thugwane (born April 15, 1971) is a South African athlete, winner of the marathon race at the 1996 Summer Olympics.

Born in Bethal, South Africa, Josia Thugwane ran his first marathon in 1991, but the breaktrough to international athletics scene came in 1995, when he won the Honolulu marathon .

At Atlanta, in the Olympic marathon, a large leading pack stayed in contact with each other for most of the race, until at 35 km, in a move initiated by Thugwane, he and two other runners, Lee Bong-Ju from South Korea and Eric Wainaina from Kenya, managed to make a break from the rest of the field. They stayed together until entering stadium, when Thugwane got a slight lead. Thugwane finished 3 seconds ahead of Lee for the closest Olympic marathon finish ever.

Thugwane had a very successful year in 1997 by winning the Fukuoka marathon, but then his career went down. He failed to finish in three successive marathons, and finished only twentieth in the 2000 Sydney Olympic marathon.