Sascoc invests over R1m a month in Paris 2024 hopefuls
● More than R1m a month is being pumped into South Africa’s top Olympic and Paralympic athletes in the build-up to Paris 2024 — with additional funds being channelled towards relay teams across athletics, swimming and triathlon.
The South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) has earmarked a minimum of R16.2m through its Operation Excellence (OpEx) programme that was relaunched last year after a hiatus.
The taps, which ran dry at the end of 2019, were reopened in July 2023, with athletes allowed to backdate claims to May, said Leon Fleiser, Sascoc’s general manager for high performance.
Whether that is enough to impact substantially in France remains to be seen, although the real pay-off is expected to come at Los Angeles 2028.
Fleiser said there would be no medal target for Paris apart from improving on the haul from Tokyo 2020 — where South Africa won one gold and two silver, courtesy of swimmer Tatjana Schoenmaker and surfer Bianca Buitendag.
Right now there is no certainty for gold (the last time Team SA failed to win an Olympic gold was at Beijing 2008).
The overall success of the campaign could hinge on the largely aquatics squad. Schoenmaker and her fellow breaststroke stars Lara van Niekerk and Kaylene Corbett are all podium hopefuls, along with Pieter Coetzé, Matthew Sates and even veteran Chad Le Clos.
They are all on the top two OpEx tiers, where the top level can claim up to R300,000 a year and those in the second layer up to R150,000.
Most Paris hopefuls are included in the two storeys, with the third exclusively reserved for prospects for the Los Angeles 2028 showpiece. Track and field is thin, although sprinters Wayde van Niekerk and Akani Simbine cannot be discounted.
Mountain biker Alan Hatherly and road queen Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio carry cycling ’ s hopes, and a fit Henri Schoeman will be a force in the triathlon,
Jordy Smith will spearhead surfing’s bid for a second straight gong, and the men’s rowing pair will start out as underdogs.
The Blitzboks could be in the mix if they can get to Paris, which means winning the final spot from sides like Great Britain and Canada at their last-ditch qualifying tournament in Monaco in June.
Medal options are limited, which means relays are critical. “Triathlon, swimming, athletics... we’ve told them to please look at the relays,” said Fleiser.
“Athletics went out to a relay camp in North West, we paid for it through OpEx. They ’ ve got a really good plan. We may not pay for all of them [relay camps], but we’ll contribute to some of them. And if we have the money we’ll help contribute for them to go to the Bahamas for the world relay champs. ”
The men’s 4x100m and 4x400m teams, as well as the mixed 4x400m outfit, are considered hopefuls in athletics.
In swimming the medley relay needs a strong breaststroker to assist probably Coetzé (backstroke) and Le Clos and Sates (both can do butterfly and freestyle). The women’s freestyle relays have been improving and the triathlon relay, which is a mixed event, also offers potential.
The swimming relays will attempt to qualify at the world championships in Doha in February, and the triathlon team in Mexico in May. So far 105 athletes across 13 codes have secured qualification for Paris 2024, although that doesn’t guarantee selection.
Women, in the majority so far at 58 to 47, could outnumber men in a South African Olympic team for the first time in history so far — Banyana Banyana have yet to secure their spot.
A record 179 athletes represented the country at Tokyo 2020, but there are still many more to win tickets to Paris.