Three medals, and so many moments to be proud of

Team SA took 176 athletes and competed in 23 disciplines at the delayed 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. They are coming back home with three medals — one gold and two silver. At the time of writing, we were number 50 on the medals table, with Cuba, Venezuela, the Philippines, Kenya and Uganda ahead of us. Those stats look terrible. But there is no need to hang our heads in shame. The Olympics are hard. Elite countries — China, the US, Russia, Japan and Australia — have been at the top of their game for decades. They pump into sports development the kind of money we can only dream of.

There were many moments when we could be proud. Tatjana Schoenmaker’s gold and silver haul shows that we are still a force to reckon with in the swimming pool. Bianca Buitendag’s silver in the women’s shortboard surfing should also be celebrated.

The men’s hockey team did exceptionally well, recording a historic victory against Germany even though they finished outside of the medals. The under-23 football side was not expected to advance from the group of death. They played brilliantly against France and a few players show promise for the future. We were disappointed to see the Blitzboks lose to Argentina as they were strong medal hopefuls. Better luck next time.

Our track and field athletes might not have collected medals but they did not disgrace themselves. Wayde van Niekerk, holder of the 400m world and Olympic records, went to Tokyo nursing an injury but still made the semifinals. It is a pity he failed to advance to the final, but his records still stand. Akani Simbine, Gift Leotlela and Shaun Maswanganyi made the 100m semifinals, and Simbine clocked two sub-10 sprints and finished fourth in the final. Maswanganyi, in his maiden Olympics, missed out on a spot in the 200m finals by 0.08sec. He is surely one for the future.

Kyle Blignaut made the shot put final, ending in sixth position. We even gifted the games one of its oldest athletes in 46-year-old skateboarder Dallas Oberholzer.

The sports department and Sascoc must do their job and support these and other upand-coming athletes as we turn our attention to Paris 2024.