SA must unearth new Olympic heroes

While South Africa's haul of six medals at the Paris Olympics was cause for celebration, administrators must put the building blocks in place to improve that tally in Los Angeles in 2028

With some of the medal winners retiring, there are concerns pickings will be slim for SA in the United States unless a new generation of Olympic heroes are unearthed.

In Paris, established stars Tatjana Smith, Akani Simbine and Alan Hatherly allowed SA to double the country’s total compared to Tokyo 2020.

Lesser-known competitors, such as javelin-thrower Jo-Ane van Dyk and Simbine’s 4x100m teammates, delivered memorable performances at Stade de France.

The Blitzboks also came to the party by winning bronze after losing their opening two matches.

Worryingly, Van Dyk, disclosed she had to rely on herself and her parents for financial support to achieve her dreams, not official government structures. 

In response, Sport, arts and culture minister Gayton McKenzie vowed that under his guard athletes like Van Dyk will not suffer from lack of financial support. 

McKenzie has pledged to search rural areas for potential winners in Los Angeles and he wants 300 SA athletes to attend the showpiece.

Statistics show that heading into Paris, SA's average haul across the 19 previous showpieces had been 4.68, but the class of 2024 lifted that to 4.75.

However, the results were well short of the country’s best performances.

SA finished tied 44th with Jamaica and Thailand on the medals table, where gold medals hold premium weight in determining position.

In the nine Olympics since readmission at Barcelona 1992, that is SA's third-lowest ranking.

The highest was 20th at London 2012 with four golds, a silver and a bronze (4-1-1) followed by 27th at Atlanta 1996 (3-1-1).

The lowest was 70th at Beijing 2008 with a single silver and 55th at Sydney 2000 with two silvers and three bronze.

The South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) sent 138 athletes (excluding reserves) to compete in the Paris 2024 games.

Although Team South Africa for Paris was slightly smaller than Tokyo 2020, they brought home more medals.

If SA want to strike gold in Los Angeles, the hard work must start now.

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