The rewards came two-and-a-half months after Birmingham 2022 — and the funding to prepare athletes for Paris 2024 cannot come soon enough.
South Africa’s Commonwealth Games medallists from the showpiece that ended on August 8 have been paid the incentives promised to them by government.
Gold medallists, including all members of the Blitzbok rugby sevens team, received R100,000 each, while breaststroke sprint queen Lara van Niekerk, the only athlete to win two golds, pocketed R200,000.
In all, Team SA’s seven golds, nine silvers and 11 bronze medals cost R3.1-million, paid by government and the National Lotteries Commission, the SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) said in a statement yesterday.
Silver medallists got R50,000 and bronze R25,000. Coaches received R15,000 for gold, R10,000 for silver and R5,000 for bronze.
The incentives were first announced by deputy sports minister Nocawe Mafu in June, although she didn’t specify the amounts. It’s the first time Commonwealth Games medallists have been rewarded.
But with the focus now on the Paris Olympics and Paralympics — Sascoc officials have already conducted a site visit to France — Sascoc’s Operation Excellence (OpEx) funding programme is set to be restored.
It’s the first time Commonwealth Games medallists have been rewarded
Sascoc CEO Nozipho Jafta told athletes at an indaba yesterday morning that they were gearing up to launch the programme.
“We are getting ready to relaunch the programme. We’re already engaging the local and international partners to assist our athletes in … their training for Paris 2024. We’re engaging our partners and sponsors to invest in our athletes,” she said.
OpEx funding played a key part in Team SA’s successes at London 2012 and Rio 2016, delivering their two best performances since readmission. In England they matched the national record haul of four golds from 1912, and in Brazil they equalled the overall medal bounty of 10 gongs from 1920 and 1952.
The funding dried up in early 2020 after Lotto had tightened the taps and that impacted on athlete preparation for the Tokyo Games, held in 2021.
Sascoc president Barry Hendricks said early this year that restoration of the OpEx programme was imminent.
With Olympic cycles normally mapped out over four years, it would come too late for some athletes, although it might help nudge a group of young rising stars onto the Paris podium, like Van Niekerk and fellow swimmers Pieter Coetzé and Matthew Sates, track athletes Prudence Sekgodiso and Zeney van der Walt, triathlete Jamie Riddle, paddler Hamish Lovemore and the rowing squad.
The real dividends should be visible at Los Angeles 2028.
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