SA’s sports talent must be nurtured

In the wake of Saturday’s crushing Springbok victory over the Wallabies, there were a few disgruntled Aussie fans practising some sour grape whataboutery, by pointing out that while their country managed third place in the medal table at the Olympics, South Africa could manage just six in total, putting us in 42nd place.

While that won’t reverse the Brisbane scoreboard, it is a fair observation: why a nation of 27 million people is so much better, in athletic terms, than a nation with 60 million-plus.

First, let’s state the obvious: South Africa has massive poverty and unemployment and for the majority of our people, just putting food on the table every day (if they even have a table) is like scaling Everest.

Then, the state of sports administration in this country leaves a lot to be desired – like commitment and professionalism.

Many administrators apparently care more for themselves than they do for sport or our athletes. Sport is just another way to make a buck, in other words.

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On top of that, we have a government whose commitment to sports seems to centre on junketing around the world to sports events, meeting athletes at OR Tambo International Airport in front of the cameras… or planning to build skyscraper flagpoles for millions of rands.

And, some fatcat companies and brands are happy to bask in national pride and take advantage of it when it suits them – without putting any significant money into sports.

The private sector and government need to work together to build swimming pools and athletic tracks in our townships, perhaps instead of pouring a king’s ransom into perpetually non-delivering sports such as football.

There is talent in this country and there is also the money to nurture it.

Our athletes have managed to succeed despite everything. They cannot be allowed to struggle alone.