What do the recent Olympics teach us about our African humanity? A lot.
Did you hear about the Nigerian cyclist whose country could not provide a bike for a race so she borrowed one from the German team?
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe tried desperately to deny that it sent seven athletes and 67 officials to Paris.
Not to be outdone, when one of SA’s athletes won a silver medal in the javelin competition, it emerged that the young woman’s family had to dig into their own pockets to enable the Potchefstroom graduate to compete in the games.
Our minister of sport (and whatever), ever the showman, promised to reimburse every cent.
As a continent we are disgraceful in the ways we treat our athletes. Notice how many Africans run for other countries?
A Kenyan was not picked by her own nation but won gold for Bahrain in the 3,000m steeplechase, breaking the Olympic record.
Nigeria could not clean up their drug record with Olympic officialdom and so one of their hammer throwers left to compete for the US, walking away with a silver medal.
And then there is my favourite athlete of the Games, Safin Hassan, who left her native Ethiopia as a child refugee to run for the Netherlands, bagging gold in the women’s marathon and bronze in the 5,000m and 10,000m. (She won an unprecedented triple in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, winning gold in both the 5,000 metres and 10,000 metres and bronze in the 1,500 metres).
The truth is Africa in general and SA in particular simply does not have a systematic plan to be competitive in the game-of-games, the Olympics.
Yes, we took six medals (one gold, three silver, two bronze), placing us joint 44th among nations. (Well done you amazing young people).
But one university’s students won 39 medals in the Paris Games, of which 12 were gold. Yes, that should put our national performance into blunt relief.
Ukraine is engaged in a full out war with a superpower (Russia) and they got more medals than we did (12, three gold).
Ever heard of Uzbekistan? Well, they got eight and the tiny country of Norway (5.5-million people) outpaced us as well (eight).
So, what’s wrong? You can’t as a country simply pitch up every four years and under the glamorous spotlight of the Olympics expect your athletes to suddenly perform.
It is the hard, hard work in-between Paris and Los Angeles that will determine our medal haul in 2028.
But don’t hold your breath. Mzansi is the land of miracles; things happen despite government and its colourful new minister of sports.
We qualified for a final because another team was disqualified; we ride our luck.
How do we correct this sad state of affairs?
You begin in schools, of course. Building and maintain facilities for sports, including athletics. Training and deploying coaches.
“Structures’ is a word South Africans like to use from the heyday of our anti-apartheid politics.
It is nonetheless a useful term: you build structures from the ground up, from preschool through university, in clubs and communities.
You put money into athletics and so on. It is not glamorous work, minister of sports and what else, but it is the only way to build a competitive group of athletes for future games.
We get this right in rugby because of structures and the fact that you need only 15 blokes to play.
That’s why we dominate in the sport those structures come from a handful of schools who produce and reproduce these elite rugby players through competitions such as Craven Week and the Varsity Cup.
Still, I ask you: where is the Loftus for athletics? Where is the Rassie for the steeplechase?
Instead, we hide sports under the life orientation curriculum. Most schools simply ignore it.
But you would not know that from this eloquent language in the high school LO curriculum: “A fixed period should be dedicated to physical education every week and this period should be labelled physical education in the school timetable. The physical education component in grade 11 comprises three different movement sections: fitness, games and sport, and recreation.
As any township child will tell you, LOL.
None of this happens and so we do not have the foundations necessary for building a deep and wide cast of young athletes who can come through structures over the next decade and more.
“I hear you’re running cross-country,” I prodded my six-year-old granddaughter on a video call in another country. “Yep,” she answers. Do you like cross-country? “Nope, Pappa”.
But she was required to run a tough course and finished in the top three and then went off to swimming.
Her family is not wealthy, but her school requires participation in a wide range of sports and, who knows, a child might find that one interest that takes her to another level of competition.
If only we could build strong foundations, not only in science and math but also in swimming and running for all our children.
HeraldLIVE
Strong foundations, not miracles, will decide our medal haul in 2028
Columnist
Image: Official team RSA/ Instagram
What do the recent Olympics teach us about our African humanity? A lot.
Did you hear about the Nigerian cyclist whose country could not provide a bike for a race so she borrowed one from the German team?
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe tried desperately to deny that it sent seven athletes and 67 officials to Paris.
Not to be outdone, when one of SA’s athletes won a silver medal in the javelin competition, it emerged that the young woman’s family had to dig into their own pockets to enable the Potchefstroom graduate to compete in the games.
Our minister of sport (and whatever), ever the showman, promised to reimburse every cent.
As a continent we are disgraceful in the ways we treat our athletes. Notice how many Africans run for other countries?
A Kenyan was not picked by her own nation but won gold for Bahrain in the 3,000m steeplechase, breaking the Olympic record.
Nigeria could not clean up their drug record with Olympic officialdom and so one of their hammer throwers left to compete for the US, walking away with a silver medal.
And then there is my favourite athlete of the Games, Safin Hassan, who left her native Ethiopia as a child refugee to run for the Netherlands, bagging gold in the women’s marathon and bronze in the 5,000m and 10,000m. (She won an unprecedented triple in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, winning gold in both the 5,000 metres and 10,000 metres and bronze in the 1,500 metres).
The truth is Africa in general and SA in particular simply does not have a systematic plan to be competitive in the game-of-games, the Olympics.
Yes, we took six medals (one gold, three silver, two bronze), placing us joint 44th among nations. (Well done you amazing young people).
But one university’s students won 39 medals in the Paris Games, of which 12 were gold. Yes, that should put our national performance into blunt relief.
Ukraine is engaged in a full out war with a superpower (Russia) and they got more medals than we did (12, three gold).
Ever heard of Uzbekistan? Well, they got eight and the tiny country of Norway (5.5-million people) outpaced us as well (eight).
So, what’s wrong? You can’t as a country simply pitch up every four years and under the glamorous spotlight of the Olympics expect your athletes to suddenly perform.
It is the hard, hard work in-between Paris and Los Angeles that will determine our medal haul in 2028.
But don’t hold your breath. Mzansi is the land of miracles; things happen despite government and its colourful new minister of sports.
We qualified for a final because another team was disqualified; we ride our luck.
How do we correct this sad state of affairs?
You begin in schools, of course. Building and maintain facilities for sports, including athletics. Training and deploying coaches.
“Structures’ is a word South Africans like to use from the heyday of our anti-apartheid politics.
It is nonetheless a useful term: you build structures from the ground up, from preschool through university, in clubs and communities.
You put money into athletics and so on. It is not glamorous work, minister of sports and what else, but it is the only way to build a competitive group of athletes for future games.
We get this right in rugby because of structures and the fact that you need only 15 blokes to play.
That’s why we dominate in the sport those structures come from a handful of schools who produce and reproduce these elite rugby players through competitions such as Craven Week and the Varsity Cup.
Still, I ask you: where is the Loftus for athletics? Where is the Rassie for the steeplechase?
Instead, we hide sports under the life orientation curriculum. Most schools simply ignore it.
But you would not know that from this eloquent language in the high school LO curriculum: “A fixed period should be dedicated to physical education every week and this period should be labelled physical education in the school timetable. The physical education component in grade 11 comprises three different movement sections: fitness, games and sport, and recreation.
As any township child will tell you, LOL.
None of this happens and so we do not have the foundations necessary for building a deep and wide cast of young athletes who can come through structures over the next decade and more.
“I hear you’re running cross-country,” I prodded my six-year-old granddaughter on a video call in another country. “Yep,” she answers. Do you like cross-country? “Nope, Pappa”.
But she was required to run a tough course and finished in the top three and then went off to swimming.
Her family is not wealthy, but her school requires participation in a wide range of sports and, who knows, a child might find that one interest that takes her to another level of competition.
If only we could build strong foundations, not only in science and math but also in swimming and running for all our children.
HeraldLIVE
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