RETURNING with any fewer than 10 medals will be regarded as a BIG FAILURE!
That is the view of the SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) president Gideon Sam.
Sam announced what he believes is Team SA’s strongest squad in many years at Olympic House yesterday.
The Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, runs from 3-21 August for all sports and Sam has expressed his satisfaction with the squad of 137 athletes.
The first group of athletes will leave for Rio on 23 July to set up base camp at the Sascoc Olympic Village in the city. The send-off dinner will take place a day before their departure.
Sascoc also dangled a huge carrot in front of the athletes representing the country in at least 14 sporting codes. A whopping R400 000 will be paid out for a gold medal, while the coach gets another R100 000.
Silver medallists get R250 000, with the coach bagging R50 000, while bronze medallists will get R80 000, with the coach pocketing R20 000.
There was disappointment for some, as Cornel Fredericks (400m hurdles) and Zarck Visser (long jump) were two of the big-name athletes who failed to make the team.
Sam said: “I’m gutted for Zarck and Fredericks. I really thought Zarck would come to the party. It’s a big let-down. But this is by far the best team going to the Olympics. The athletes going to Rio are going on merit.”
Getting to be an old hand at this, 2008 silver medallist Khotso Mokoena will be making his fourth Olympics appearance.
Sam identified rowing, swimming, athletics, rugby and canoeing as his best bets for medals.
International Olympics Committee member Sam Ramsamy wants SA to target 15 medals at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan.
Ramsamy is one of the founders of the Olympics movement in SA, back in 1992.
He said: “We have a good team and should aim higher. When I started this Olympic movement here I wanted five medals and we are slowly improving – but the minimum must be 15 medals in Japan.”
He added that he remained hopeful the team would rise to the occasion in Rio.
Sascoc said athletes such as Caster Semenya, Wenda Nel, Wayde van Niekerk and Stephen Mokoka qualified for more than one event but would only concentrate on their specialities.
