Preparing for next Olympics
THERE was a lot of gratitude and generosity doing the rounds when Team SA arrived home from the Rio Games this week. The South Africans won 10 medals in all and this, no doubt, must be reason for the nation to be proud of the achievements of athletes likeWayde van Niekerk, Caster Semenya, Luvo Manyonga, Henri Schoeman and Sunette Viljoen in the track and field events. Our swimmers Chad le Clos and Cameron van der Burgh, rowers Shaun Keeling and Lawrence Brittain and Rugby Sevens teams also did well.
For getting to the podium the Sports Ministry forked out R2.7-million in incentives to these heroes and heroines with Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula in a typical display of megaphone showmanship, applauding the winners.
He cannot really be faulted for stealing much of the thunder as it is the wont of politicians to act in this fashion.
But what was rather disappointing was former East London administrator, the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) president, Gideon Sam’s rant that bringing just 10 medals home was a poor show for a country of 55-million people.
Making comparisons with New Zealand, with its 4.5-million population, and who won 18 medals at the Rio Games, Sam said it was “unacceptable” for a country so small to do better than South Africa. He further hinted that the administration in the sporting codes was not up to scratch.
Be that as it may, Sam’s inference was clear that the Transformation Charter is just not working and, after much fire from Mbalula – who took many of the top federations to task earlier this year for not doing more for black sportsmen – it may mean deeper introspection is needed to rectify the problem.
Sascoc prides itself on its Operation Excellence programme, which is aimed at honing the skills of those with great potential.
But much to the chagrin of administrators the top swimmers in this country opt for training abroad, simply because of the poor facilities and a lack of resources here to help their skills.
Sascoc will want to do better at the next Games in Tokyo. But the criticism from javelin champion Viljoen, who cried foul over nonpayment from the athletics body, and who called for an inquiry into the R70-million Lottery money handed to Sascoc for Rio, opens up questions about the way things are being run by Sam and Co.
The government and the sporting codes have a common interest to see our potential rise to greatness on the world’s field of dreams. Let’s hope they act sooner rather than later. The 2020 Olympics are just around the corner.