Sascoc targets 10 medals from 2016 Olympic Games

AFTER the bravado of the prediction of 12 medals from the 2012 London Olympics, Gideon Sam, the South African Sport Confederations and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) president, took a more moderate stance yesterday when he set a target of 10 medals from the 2016 Games in Rio.

It was, after the 40 medals at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, what Sam hopes is an achievable total. It is four more than won in London and, well, a lot more than Beijing 2008, a woeful Games Sascoc hopes was the lowest of lows for South Africa.

Medals cost money, and Sascoc announced a pareddown Operation Excellence, with fewer athletes than before. Concentrating the share of money for medals seems to be the solution to getting more of them.

After a review in September of the 82 athletes on the programme, 58 remain and two new names have been added. Chad le Clos tops the list, and Sascoc will be hoping he brings them at least three medals.

Cameron van der Burgh is still there, while those who impressed in athletics in Glasgow also cracked the nod.

Sascoc has signed agreements with the Olympic committees of Uganda, Burundi and Serbia to share knowledge and resources.

“We see what sport Uganda are good in and how we can benefit. They are good in boxing. They come to us, they help us, so we can give them a hiding,” said Sam.

That’s one way of getting medals.