Turning silver into gold

South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee president Gideon Sam has targeted 12 medals at the 2012 Olympics as the tangible that would define South Africa’s campaign, stressing there would be no handouts in squad selection.

‘My message today (Wednesday) has to be one of excellence, both from an administration point of view and from our Olympic hopefuls. Our Olympic campaign has already started and the road leads to London. Everything we do between now and then we do in the singular and our actions are geared to making South Africans proud of our Olympians.’

Sam, elected to the presidency at the end of 2008, said he would take the lessons from the 2008 Beijing failure but it served no purpose to dwell on the failure because it could not be changed.

‘I am not in denial about what happened. One silver medal is unacceptable and that is the reality of our situation. Only performance can improve on this and as an administration our mission statement is to ensure that every opportunity is created for our best athletes to show the world we are indeed a sporting nation capable of Olympic success.

‘As much as I would want to run or swim the race I can’t, but it is our administration’s responsibility to put in place every structure that ensures our Olympic hopefuls have been given every chance to succeed. Then it is over to the athlete to do justice to this opportunity.

‘The athlete will be judged on performance at the Olympics, but as an administration we will be judged when the athletes board the plane for London. Neither the administration nor the athlete can have excuses. One cannot be successful without the other and there must be ownership and accountability.

‘The good will be applauded and the bad will be recorded and there will be constant and consistent monitoring of everyone’s performance. There will be no escape and no excuse. It really is that simple and we have to be united in what we do between now and then and we can’t afford a them and us situation,’ said Sam, referring to past Olympic campaigns charaterised by divisions between the administration and the athletes.’

Sam, a veteran sports administrator, has spent the past two months meeting with all the tertiary institutions in South Africa, as well as conducting interviews with various specialists, and he described the feedback as overwhelming.

‘There is a lot of intellectual capital in this country and there is goodwill and desire from so many people. The discussions are on going and so is my commitment to involving the best to make us the best. I am consistent in my thinking that performance, and nothing else, will determine who goes to the Olympics.

‘There will be realism about the strength of our individuals and teams and with this will come perspective in terms of our expectations in London. The Commonwealth in Delhi and the Youth Olympics are two big indicators of where will be positioned by 2012, as will the swimming and athletic world championship.

‘Performance, ladies and gentlemen, is what will define the next four years and determine the size of our Olympic squad. We certainly won’t be sending individuals or teams to make up numbers.’

Sam also identified Corporate South Africa’s involvement as a non-negotiable in creating the platforms for the athletes.

‘There has to be involvement from them and there has to be desire to be involved, but that can only come if we are getting things right first. We have to get the Olympics sports back onto the back pages of newspapers and we have to get the administrators off the front pages.

‘To do this won’t be easy because it requires an understanding from the Federations that they are accountable for lack of performance as much as the athlete is accountable. We have our work cut out, but I am up for the fight and so are the people who share my passion for the challenge of London,’ said Sam.

‘There is no quick fix and there is no easy answer. It is SASCOC’s mandate to deliver high performance sport in South Africa and one silver medal does not equal a delivery. The immediate destination is London, but as the journey unfolds, so the road trip for 2016 will gain momentum.’