Sam on sport’s battle
December 1st, 2009 | Published in Road Forward | 4 Comments
The head of South Africa’s Olympic governing body, Gideon Sam, on Tuesday gave his full support for the global fight against HIV /Aids.
Sam was speaking on World Aids Day as countries around the world acknowledged the fight against the virus.
“SASCOC wholeheartedly supports the on-going campaign to deal with this terrible illness,” said Sam from Olympic House in Johannesburg.
“No-one can deny the effect that this problem has on communities world wide, across all spectrums, from the very wealthiest to the very poorest. No-one is spared, and that includes our sportsmen and women.”
South African president Jacob Zuma was expected to undergo a public HIV test Tuesday and Sam was fully behind the president’s brave decision.
“Each and everyone should know their status and this includes us as sports people. We cannot live in denial. All sports people should also be prepared to take the step and establish their status.
‘As a civil society structure, SASCOC identifies with each and every campaign that is aimed at helping our communities.
‘Part of our plans are to appeal to our many national federations to lend support to this campaign and I must reiterate that we will back government’s efforts to deal with this scourge every step of the way,” concluded the SASCOC president.
December 1st, 2009 at 10:49 pm (#)
Dear Mr Sam
I welcome your support to the initiatives taken by government and our beloved President Jacob Zuma.
However, I feel that as a leader of our Macro Sports Governing body, you should have come up with your own initiative around the world aids day commemoration.
My plea is that we don’t wait till next year, but come up with something soon. Indeed, AIDS affects not only the non sporting person, it also affects the elitest of sports people, e.g Magic Johnson is the most perfect example.
If one have to be critical, sports people at a provincial and national level tour the country and and globally engage in sexual activities. As a matter of fact, most of them try and “score” wherever they go, and brag about it. These are supposed to be our rolemodels.
December 2nd, 2009 at 1:31 pm (#)
I fully agree with the above writer’s last sentence. It is indeed very true and it happens not only with the leaders, but also with athletes. Some people indeed attend sport events to try and “score”.
December 3rd, 2009 at 9:54 pm (#)
Athlete, I read you well and you will see that we will in future launch our own on-goings campaigns around certain issues that are close to the concerns of our communities. Thanks for making the point.
December 7th, 2009 at 2:59 pm (#)
Dear Mr Sam
Thanks very much for the response. Much appreciated.