So Cycling South Africa has announced that the Tour of South Africa professional road cycling stage race will take place in late February 2011.

This is of course fantastic news; partly because the event has been postponed a few times; partly because it gives our own professional racers improved access to a higher level of racing; and partly because it’s a great new way to showcase this country through international media and thereby stimulate tourism.

With close to 80 million visitors annually, France is the most visited country in the world. With just over nine million, South Africa is around 25th on the most-visited rankings. I’m prepared to bet that the topographically delightful TV footage we see during July over the three weeks of the Tour de France has a lot to do with that. The majestic mountain ranges of the Alps and Pyrenees, the lush valleys, the manicured gardens, the highly organised agricultural lands, the stately chateaus, the simple roadside homes, the historic monuments and architecturally fascinating churches, theatres, statues…

You can’t really get a better advert for a country than that – images beamed daily (mostly live) to more than 140 countries for almost a month, with an estimated TV audience of more than 200 million, are undoubtedly going to make an impression on tourism figures. Okay, so it is the world’s most famous cycling race and it is the world’s biggest annual sports event (in terms of actual spectators); and a Tour of South Africa is not going to match that. But it’s a start.

And when we host this Tour of South Africa, let’s make it a tour of South Africa. Let’s resist the temptation to restrict it to the Western Cape because it’s logistically more comfortable. Let’s include as much of this country’s gems as possible. Sure, Cape Town and the Winelands are undoubtedly worth inclusion, probably even the best place to start or finish the inaugural edition of the tour.

But let’s not exclude the rolling hills and beautiful beaches of KwaZulu-Natal, the moderate mountains and big-game-rich bush of Mpumalanga, the stark, chiselled features and high altitude of the Eastern Free State and Lesotho border and the vast, rocky plains of inland Eastern Cape.

Let’s remember that in February, the Western Cape is dry and tawny, while the rest of the country, irrigated by summer rains and warmed by a baking sun is the epitome of lush, fertile beauty. The Drakensberg looks resplendent in its light green summer coat and even the industrial hardness of Gauteng is softened by an emerald-tinted frame.

Like the Tour de France, let’s change the route each year. Take the race through new towns, up fresh climbs. Let’s showcase the incredible geographic diversity of this country. While creating new challenges for the riders and visually impactful TV images, it will also promote cycling, much like the old Rapport Tour used to.

Young and old alike will be exposed to this annual event passing their way. They’ll become at least curious, if not inspired by this remarkable sport that doesn’t discriminate against genetics. A sport that doesn’t only reward the strongest, or the fastest, but also the smartest and the bravest.

Let’s add South African touches to this European-born sport. Let the cultural diversity of the various regions through which it passes leave their colourful brush strokes on its bare canvas. Let’s get our best marketing minds into action to make it unique. Let’s get the government’s backing, the provinces’ support and the people’s buy-in.

Let’s not make this just another stage race that only matters to the cycling community. Let’s make it a proudly South African product that transcends cycling and benefits the country as a whole. Let’s use this opportunity wisely and make the Tour of South Africa an annual picture postcard that boldly claims ‘Eish, wish you were here…’

South Africa’s latest sporting hero is paraplegic motorbike rider Samuel “Sampie” Erasmus (28), who famously sold his car, a Golf 5, so he could compete in X Games 16 in Los Angeles last month.

He got R195,000 for the car and it turned out to be the best trade of his life because he won gold at the equivalent of the action sports Olympics.

Incredibly, Sampie competes in moto X super X — he’s one of those crazy guys you see racing around a dirt track on motorbikes, flying over custom-made jumps and bumps which are sculpted by small bulldozers.

It’s hard enough for able-bodied riders to stay on their bikes, but Sampie is paralysed from the chest down as the result of a motorbike accident in 2004.

So he can’t even stand up like normal riders — or even the amputee riders he competes against — when he’s on the jumps to absorb the impact. Instead, he  relies on his considerable upper body strength, great bike control and balance.

At the made-for-television X Games, broadcast in South Africa by sponsors ESPN, Sampie, who is from Stilfontein,  competed in an event called moto X super X adaptive, which is open to amputees and paraplegics.

This year, for the first time, the paras were considered to be in a separate class, although they compete in the same race as amputees, and sixth place was good enough to give Sampie gold because he was the first paraplegic across the line.

In previous years, there were no medals for the paras.

“I’m the fastest paraplegic in the world,” he said afterwards when I saw him in the pits at the Los Angeles Coliseum.

It nearly went horribly wrong for Erasmus at the start of the final, when he was knocked off the track at the first jump and passed by another para rider.

But he immediately got back on track and quickly found his rhythm to wrestle back the lead — and the cherished medal.

Last year, in his first X Games appearance in the moto X super X adaptive, Sampie was the second paraplegic rider, but no medals were at stake.
X Games gold is as big as it gets in action sport and his success has put Erasmus on the same exalted level as other well-known SA disabled sports stars, people such as 400m “Blade Runner” Oscar Pistorius, wheelchair marathon man Ernst van Dyk and swimming sensation Natalie du Toit.

Every disabled sport is a challenge but Sampie’s chosen field is particularly difficult.

Erasmus had to build a cage on the bike to protect his legs and he has to strap himself into a special seat. His legs have to be strapped in, too, so the last thing a paraplegic motorbike rider needs is to fall during an event.

Quite simply, he cannot get up without assistance, and it was heart-breaking in the adaptive final in LA to see one paraplegic rider crash on a corner and lie where he fell until marshals raced in up to pick him up.

Erasmus’s bike, a Honda CRF 250X, is modified with a special clutch, a left hand back brake and a left hand clutch override. He changes gear with a grip shift he designed himself.

The accident which changed Sampie’s life happened in the 2004 SA moto X championships in Bethlehem. Already an accomplished moto X rider on the verge of turning professional, he was competing in the 125cc senior event when he hit a jump, his back wheel hit a bump and he flew over the handlebars.

“The bike followed me,” he said. “It landed on me and broke my back in two places.” Erasmus’s spine was damaged between the T4 and T6 vertebrae, confining him to a wheelchair for the rest of his life.

But Erasmus is made from stern stuff and six months after his accident he got on a friend’s 450cc motorbike in Orkney and “bumped around in second gear”.
“I knew then I could do it,” he said, and so his great adventure started.

That was a far cry from the young man who came home from the rehab centre and realised life would never be the same.  ”It hit me hard when I rolled into the house,” Sampie recalled.

But he only allowed himself two weeks of self-pity before he realised that life was for living, no matter was your handicap is.

The rules of Motorsport SA preclude paraplegic riders from competing in their events but after teaching himself how to do moto X again on a modified bike on a makeshift track near his home, Erasmus learnt that he would be welcomed with open arms in the US.

“There, I can compete with able-bodied riders without any problems,” said Erasmus, who headed stateside last year.

He competed in the 2009 Extremity Games for people with disabilities and earned an invitation to X Games 15. He was back in the US this year, thanks to the cash he got from selling his car, and won his class at the Extremity Games. Then it was the X Games, and the achievement of his dream.

Every four years the world turns its attention to one city for a period of 16 days to witness the worlds best athletes compete in 32 different sporting codes.

These are of course the Olympic Games. After the success of the 2010 Football World Cup, it was inevitable that there would be a clamoring for an African city to host an Olympic Games, specifically a South African City.

Cape Town has already said no. Johannesburg is not an option for various reasons including altitude. It is no secret though that Durban is very keen. In the recent column posted by Norrie Williamson he correctly pointed out the huge logistical challenges. But I have no doubt these can be overcome, we have after all just hosted a Football World Cup and there were many who said we could never do it.

But there is another side the to whole Games, the economic side. I did a quick poll on Facebook to see out of curiosity how my friends feel about hosting the Olympics. Many came back with interesting observations, many for and many against – all though had sound arguments.

My questions specifically related to the economic impact of the Games. And therein lies the crux. This will not be a nation benefiting from the Games, although there may be spin-offs but only to other cities in the country, not necessarily the country itself. Yes lets build the infrastructure, i.e transport etc.

But we have yet see a shift in people’s attitude in using public transport (see article by Norrie). So we get these great transport facilities and don’t use them. I see many Rea Vaja buses in Johannesburg very empty. The flip side is though that I know of many people, who, like me, stay in Pretoria and cannot wait for the Gautrain to be finished as it would save lots of time in traffic and lots of petrol money in the regular commute between Pretoria and Johaanesburg.

It is also important to draw a distinction between the financial impact of hosting the Olympics and the wider economic impact of the Games.

The financial impact of the Games relates specifically to the budgetary balance of the host city’s organising committee, and whether the financial costs of hosting the Games can be met by the revenues directly generated from Games events. The economic impact, on the other hand, relates to the wider effects of the Games on the general economy arising from associated factors such as increased tourism and improved infrastructure.

How do you measure the economic impact the World Cup had on South Africa’s population. Not since the 1994 elections has there been so much euphoria, anticipation and excitement surrounding a single event in the country. The feel good factor certainly did change the attitude of many people in the country and the willingness to go the extra mile, be more courteous and more productive was clearly visible – not to mention the pride factor the country had after the World Cup.

‘See we proved all you doom and gloom naysayers wrong’, was the general attitude – and that, if maintained, can certainly have huge impact on the country at all levels, from financial to economical to bringing a nation together. The difference though is this was a national event, an Olympics is a hosted by a single city. How then to get a nation to rally around it, especially as the bulk of the economic activity would happen around just the one city.

The 1992 Barcelona Olympics have been, according to surveys, the most successful in terms of economic impact – so much so in fact, that the model used by the Barcelona Bid Committee and the City, has become the model for planning and hosting any future Olympic Games.

Barcelona, the City, cleverly used the Olympic Games to rebuild the city’s infrastructure and made clever use of the athlete accommodation built, for future housing. They also went on an aggressive marketing campaign, pre, during and post the Olympic Games, with the result that the city became a preferred tourist choice for many Europeans for many years to come.

The Barcelona Games were a total success in organisational and sporting terms. The urban transformation generated by the Games had far-reaching economic and social impact. Barcelona then became highly successful in harnessing the impetus and legacy of the Games, with the result that by 2001, the city was ranked as the Europe’s sixth most attractive – nine years after the Games.

And although the public debt directly associated with the Games rose to $6.1 billion, the legacy of it being ranked sixth most attractive city in Europe for many years to come generated a lot of post event visitation, and therefore income. However just how much it did has not been ascertained.

The naysayers often use Montreal as evidence that the Games are not profitable and in 2005 the city was still paying off its debt. Moscow’s financial impact is hard to determine as it was held behind the Iron Curtain in 1980 and the Communist government wanted to use the Games as part of the Cold War against the West and show that Communism is better than capitalism and democracy in every way. So no money will have been spared in making the Games successful. But precisely because it was organised by a government/city that did not answer to its people, it is very difficult to see just what was spent and what the Games generated in terms of income, immediate and long term.

The Los Angeles Games in 1984 left the organizing committee (LAOC) with a modest surplus of $335 million, but the LAOC got 67% of the TV money and spent little on infrastructure or new facilities. The physical legacy of the 1984 Games is close to nil.

Similarly, the Atlanta Organising Committee in 1996 broke even, but the bottom line there is not encouraging. A study using monthly data found that there was insignificant change in retail sales, hotel occupancy and airport traffic during the Games. The only variable that increased was hotel rates — and most of this money went to headquarters of chain hotels located in other cities.

Sydney hosted the Games in 2000, and they were indeed spectacular. Who can ever forget the opening ceremony when Cathy Freeman lit the flame. The Games themselves broke even, but the Australian state auditor estimated that the true long-term cost was $2.2billion. That is just the Games themselves.

How about the money spent by Australian sport in winning medals? A cost analysis was done pos-Games to see just what the price tag for one Olympic gold medal was. It came to a staggering AUS$ 40 million. That was the price for one gold medal alone and Australia raked in quite a number of gold. Yes that cost was spread over four years and was broken down in terms of hard cash, medical support, coaching support and facilities. Still a very high cost.

For the 2008 Games in Beijing the UK spent £265 million on the preparations of their team. This has now gone up to £550 million for the 2012 Olympics in London but this is not money spent on facilities etc for the Games themselves. So there are many hidden costs attached to it. A economic impact study of the 2012 Games shows that London and its immediate environs stand to benefit from hosting the games, but the rest of the country sees little or no benefit.

Athens was a disaster. Strikes, delays in building that  resulted in more price escalations, hit the city hard before the Games had even started. Athens won the right to host the Games in 1997. Its budget then was $1.6 billion. The final public cost is estimated around $9 billion dollars. The follow on effects were that the country itself suffered a severe economic meltdown (aided by a bad global economy) and the EU is currently bailing Greece out of its financial crises.

We may argue that hosting a Games will improve infrastructure in the host city and leave a legacy. Why do we need an Olympic Games to improve our infrastructure? Shouldn’t that be budgeted for and implemented anyway? Is that not why we pay taxes? Others may argue that look how the World Cup improved on services. Good point. The trick now is to maintain the high quality of said services and already we are reading reports that there has been a drop in standards again.

Then there is the question around host venues. Operating and maintaining these venues comes at a huge cost and because many are very niche-type sports facilities, never get utilised sufficiently post the Games.  Ah, but what about the tourism impact on the host city and the nation? Should a South African city bid for the Olympic Games then for the next 10 years South Africa and the host city will enjoy an unbelievable amount of global publicity, and if managed correctly, this can certainly provide a huge impetus in tourist activity.

The host city will also in its build up to the Games be hosting many international seminars, and sporting events leading up to the Games, all of which will further provide huge publicity which in turn will have more people wanting to visit South Africa and the host city. At least that is the theory. I have not found any information that either proves or disproves this theory. Which doesn’t mean its not there.

As a sports lover I would like nothing more than to see the “Usain Bolt” of 2020 fly down the 100 metre home-straight in the Olympic final and to marvel at his physical perfection. How thrilling to watch the cyclists in the velodrome, or the next Burry Stander cruise through the MTB cross-country course. And it wouldn’t it just be a marvel to se the next “Sifiso Nhlapo” power his way to Olympic gold. How about our Rugby Sevens team winning the gold medal…..Gripping feelings and thoughts.

There is no doubt that sport gets our emotions going and that sport has healed many a rift; the Rugby World Cup of 1995 did that, I would like to believe that the Football World Cup of 2010 did much the same, time will tell.

But as much as I love sport and the passions it evokes, and the ability to bring a nation together, I have to ask how will this be funded? Who will pay, and, economically, will it be a good idea? What is very difficult to calculate is the pride factor – pride in having hosted an event of such magnitude and how that pride translates into economic benefit. Will the pride factor make industrious people out of us? Will it generate a desire to improve the city’s economy and to a much lesser extent the nations? Or is it merely a fleeting moment of emotion?

The jury on whether hosting an Olympic Games is beneficial from an economic point of view, is still out. This column unfortunately does not allow us the space to go into major detail of the economic impact of an event such as an Olympic Games, and in my research for this article I found many pros and cons.

I suspect that for every no, you will find a yes; certainly that is what I found, and I suspect the statistical analysis will be heavily influenced by the assessors bias towards or against the Games. Right now I am still sceptical as to whether it is financially viable for a South African city to host such an event. The sports lover in me is crying out for it though.

Riding on the back of the euphoria of the FIFA World Cup South Africa has been touted as a potential host for the 2020 Olympics.

This is further fueled by Olympic chief Jacques Rogge’s statement that he would be glad if a South African city made a bid to host the games.

There must be substantial pressure on the IOC to hold the Games on the African continent. Rogge went on to say that Cape Town made a credible bid in 1997 to host the 2004 Games when they lost out to Athens.

However a week ago Cape Town mayoral committee member for economic development Felicity Purchase said “I don’t want to be negative, but I don’t think in the short term we (Cape Town) are ready yet to do an Olympic bid.” She went on to describe the 1997 bid as naïve, and made the point that analysis showed that hosting smaller events had greater cost-benefit returns.

This past week has also seen Nawal El Moutawakel, the chairperson of the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Bid Evaluation committees, and past Olympic Champion to state that Africa should rather target the Olympics for 2030 to 2040.  However with Rio booked for 2016, the next pressure for global expansion is likely to be between Africa and the highly resourced Middle East.

One of the biggest challenges for any host is the requirement that the Olympics are a one city bid, which tends to limit the national government support and requires all sport facilities need to be provided in the one area.

While Purchase was doubtful of a bid by the Mother City, Durban has had an eye on the Olympics for years and look to be the lead contenders in any South African bid: But is this realistic?

Perhaps it’s a Durban and South Africa bias, but experiences at the last four Olympics, and watching the six year World Cup build up leads me to believe that a Durban Olympics is potentially possible providing the considerable challenges are addressed and there is a willingness to change attitudes.

On the positive side, the FIFA world cup proved a country wide can-do attitude, and the Durban metropolitan area has many of the required facilities, or sites where facilities can be constructed.

For years the city has been developing the Kings park ‘sports zone’ which now has the Moses Mahbida Stadium as the jewel in the crown.
However many more facilities will be required, with most of the current ones either requiring upgrading to meet the ever technological advances, or becoming training venues. What is often overlooked is the need for training and warm up venues.

Long term viability will require the concepts of sport specific domains to change with the major stadiums hosting multiple sports and freeing up current venues for new sports. For example the current home of rugby would need to move to host other sports perhaps Tennis, or Hockey.

Potentially the Kings Park zone can be taken from the Umgeni River, to Umgeni Road, to the M4 freeway and down to Commercial Road in the south, although this will require the release of Kingsmeade Office Park, and Municipal buildings. This ‘Zone’ follows the same principle as Beijing where cordons provided a secure area hosting Athletics, Fencing, Weight training, Boxing, Swimming Gymnastics, a range of public facilities, and the massive International Broadcast and Media Centres.

As with Beijing officials, media and athletes would then undergo security screening at hotels or the village, but once inside the perimeter fence would be free to move wherever their accreditation allowed. The public screening would be at a very limited number of gates, or prior to getting dedicated underground train link into the zone, probably using the newly constructed Moses Mahbida Station.

It’s the numbers and movement of numbers that present the biggest challenges: In Beijing there were 28 sports with 302 events with a total of 31 venues in the city of which 12 were new, 11 existed and 8 were set up temporarily for the games. With over 10,000 athletes, and team officials who need secure accommodation the most condensed village requirements mean about a dozen 30 storey buildings each the size of the Southern Sun North Beach hotel.

These numbers pale however in terms of the organizers, media, and broadcast staff which account for another 20,000 most of who are lodged in other villages or official hotels.

Add in another 70,000 volunteers, which may be great for job creation, vocational experience and overall development but mount up the transport and accommodation challenges.

Add to this the potential 700,000 international visitors and another few million Southern African spectators who can be expected to visit over the ‘16 Days of Glory’ to appreciate both the potential and the challenge of the Games.

The short term would bring a massive boost in construction and infrastructure, as well as a huge migration to Durban by sports federations and commerce.

Attracting five or six million people to the beautiful city has major commercial impact, and can create a legacy that will last for decades, providing it is done successfully.

As with any event organization, you are only as good as your last event. Although successful, the comparison of FIFA 2010 bringing 100,000 supporters to a handful of well spaced matches is insignificant compared with tripling the resident population for close to a month (the first arrivals could easily be three months before), and concurrently hosting a score of sports each and every day.

There is some relief in that all recent games have been allowed to use satellite venues. For instance in Athens 2004 soccer was held as far as Thessaloniki, Greece’s second city, and in 2012 London will use Cardiff and Glasgow as venue for the beautiful game. In Beijing equestrian and sailing were at out of the city and even Hong Kong was used as a venue.

These were all air flights away which mean the Durban bid could utilize Gauteng and Cape venues for one or two sports. Then sports such as canoeing, rowing and others could be held outside the main CBD in the massive expanse and dam areas of the north coast, and the valley of a thousand hills.

However consider the last four Olympic cities: Atlanta, Athens, Sydney and Beijing. These Olympic parks were positioned in the sprawling metropolitan areas to be accessible from many different angles and this presents a challenge for Durban.

The Durban Sport Zone, the accommodation and the attractions are all down on the flatter beachfront area which is isolated on the east by the Indian Ocean, on the south by the harbor.  Access is restricted from the north by the Umgeni River and a lack of sizable arteries serving the Sports Zone all of which is combined with a cultural resistance to public transport. Additionally the use of the Zone impacts heavily on the flow- through on the existing routes from the north, and south, leaving only the western access is relatively unrestricted.

A replication of the high successful Gautrain offers a potential solution with links to the new airport, via Durban North, Umhlanga and even Ballitto. Some form of additional southern link would be required to open up opportunities in that direction. The Olympics is where size does indeed count. It’s no coincidence that the Beijing airport terminal which is three kilometres long was the largest in the world at the time.

Attitude changes may be the greater and longer term challenge given that a 2020 bid leaves only a decade to get it right. The hosting of multiple major events on the same day must commence now.

In a province where weekly club road running, cycling and triathlon-type events were banned for the whole month of the World Cup this may require serious foresight and mind-bending for the federations, authorities and the public at large.

Ironically FIFA 2010 would have been an ideal time to showcase a large well organized mass participation event.

At the 10 day long Berlin 2009 World Championships organizers hosted a 10,000 runner 10km event on the same city centre circuit, only two hours after the women’s marathon and the day before the men’s marathon. Given the same potential Durban / KZN banned all other events! What a loss of experience, development, visitor participation, and an opportunity to show case the sites and views of the city.

To be a serious contender the City and powers-that-be must proactively attract multiple events to the current facilities, and use every opportunity to learn the skills and problems related to this.

Simultaneously the public at large need to be nurtured away from a culture of falling out their cars into venues, and into the use of public transport, which is inevitably a chicken and egg situation.

For example the amazingly efficient shuttle bus system linking the airport to a people-mover network around the CBD during the World Cup has unexplainably been discontinued. At R100 round trip this was exceptional value and something that would unquestionably grown in volume as travelers became aware of the two month old service. Now Durbanites are back to 90km round trips, with a road toll, and R140 overnight parking.

Greater foresight even in the detail can offer opportunities and savings. The fantastic new promenade, which when finished, will stretch around seven kilometres from Ushaka to Blue Lagoon, yet has no formal purpose made access points or roads for cycling, running or triathlon events. Incorrect surface texture for international events, and no practical way of demarking a longitudinal ‘competition’ zone in an area where there is continual cross traffic to and from the beach could have assisted bids for say the World Half Marathon championships.

Even with the resources and political will to financially back a bid, the concerns on our ability to host a Durban Olympics doesn’t lie in the big sporting picture that we associate with the Games, but rather with the practicalities logistics and provisions around the games; with the changing of culture, the creation of new norms and attitude for everything from transportation to volunteerism; the development of the can-do attitude of 2010 and the sharing of a vision from top management to every citizen. If we are serious about the bid it needs to commence now.

City Manager, Mike Sutcliffe and the Durban delegation to Beijing won the bid to bring the 2011 Olympic Congress to the city, which is an ideal opportunity to showcase the potential to the Olympic Family. Rather than ring-fence this occasion with a limit on public participation the federations and the City need to maximize this potential by hosting multiple events and championships; packing the Sports Zone with players and spectators; and gaining experience of mass (public) transportation and security issues.

Surely there is no better occasion to lay the foundation for a bid, but if we are to be successful by next year there will only be nine years remaining. It’s a big call and one that requires a ‘Do it Now’ approach if those four words “Let The Games Begin!” are to ring out in Africa before 2030!

Something remarkable happened at SASCOC’s offices in Johannesburg this week.

It occurred in the preamble to the announcement of the first batch of South African athletes for the upcoming Commonwealth Games.

With administrators and a number of athletes in attendance, SASCOC chief Gideon Sam boldly announced that there would be no passengers on the plane to New Delhi in October.

It was remarkable for two reasons: local administrators seldom take such a tough line because having ‘passengers’ is practically in the DNA of South African sport.

Sam’s declaration was therefore a welcome departure from past years where there was an unwritten agreement that middle-of-the-road athletes would tag along with elite performers.

While that’s in the Corinthian spirit and has some merit, it’s also patronising, old fashioned and leads to false expectation.

As we saw at the Beijing Olympics with a South African women’s diver (her bellyflop made the front pages of newspapers internationally), it can also be plainly embarrassing when a sub-standard athlete has no business mixing in the rarefied air of elite competition.

Indeed, the emotional fallout could be permanently damaging.

Sam also made the very important point that sending along ‘passengers’ — who could constitute up-and-coming stars who may benefit from the experience — might be honourable, but other countries simply send their best. The balance, of course, then shifts to better selected teams.

Sam’s policy is also a welcome departure from the culture of entitlement, where reward is not always commensurate with effort.

Besides, at the top end of sport, there’s no room for sentiment. The weak get devoured by the strong. There can be no other way.

SASCOC’s policy of putting federations through the gauntlet in this regard is encouraging. There are no handouts; they have to convince SASCOC why their athletes deserve to be on the plane. Convince is the key word here. Sam doesn’t accept any soft-soaping or prevarication: if they’re good enough, they’ll go. If not, they’ll stay at home. Tough.

His hard-line approach is understandable (and laudable). Upon being appointed, he put his money where his mouth is by declaring that South Africa would win a dozen medals at London 2012. It was a bold statement, but beyond the pure number it was also a declaration of war against mediocrity, against being ordinary, against settling for second best.

The selection of the initial squad for the Commonwealth Games was a vital early step in this direction. More than once he mentioned how the ambition was to climb up the medal table from fifth. Setting such targets is a positive mood and intentionally discriminates against the slackers and the weak.

I like what I’m hearing from, and about, Sam. He’s brought a freshness and an authority to SASCOC, whose profile continues to rise. He doesn’t suffer fools and he has a plan.

His press conference this week had a sense of purpose about it and he cleverly masked his tough policy with sprinklings of humour.

He carries a big stick, but wields it carefully.

Smart man.

“A good idea that did not work out” is probably the best description of the way in which Athletics South Africa (ASA) went about selecting the team that will compete at the Junior World Championship in Canada.

In principle nobody can fault ASA for wanting to ensure that athletes, when they are chosen four weeks before a World Championship, were fit and capable to compete.  But there are ways of doing and not doing things. The way ASA went about the selection process was definitely just wrong.

First and foremost, they never took into account that they were working with children. How can young athletes be expected to respect ASA as a national sports body if the decision makers of ASA themselves do not adhere to either ASA’s own rules or those of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).

Matters started to go wrong with Stander’s announcement at the end of April that all the athletes who had already qualified for the Junior World Championship, had to requalify in June during what Stander called a ‘window period’. To quote Stander: “ASA is no longer prepared to take passengers to World  Championships.”

As mentioned before, Stander couldn’t be faulted for his stance, but if ASA expected athletes to perform in the middle of winter, the least they could have done was to ensure that there was proper communication between themselves, the athletes and their coaches.

To send out e-mails to the media and the provincial athletics bodies, hoping that the relevant information would reach the athletes, as well as their coaches and parents, was definitely not the proper way to communicate with the young athletes.

One has also have to take into account that ASA’s website was offline from April for nearly six weeks which meant that a certain way of communication between the athletes and ASA was effectively shut down.

How difficult could it have been to make individual phone calls to the 28 athletes who had qualified in April, and were expected to do so again, and explain to them personally what was further expected of them? They are, after all, the future of the sport.

With proper communication ASA would have picked up early on that Cheyne Rahme, Africa and SA’s junior record holder in the pole vault, is having injury problems and then perhaps something could have been done to help with his recovery process. All that has now happened is that South Africa is going to miss out on a medal at the World Championship because Rahme is a definite medal contender.

During the infamous Leonard Chuene era everybody knew about the ‘little black book’. Once the name of an athlete, or even a coach, was written in that little book, all doors were closed and it was ‘game over’ for him. There was no possibility of representing South Africa again.

Now the ‘little black book’ seems to have returned to South African athletics. Since May nobody has dared to question ASA’s decisions, because such a person would surely pay the price for his impudence.

One can only hope that the fact that athletes like Rynhardt van Rensburg (SA junior 800 champion) and Rikenette Steenkamp (SA senior, junior and schools champion in the 100-hurdles) were not selected, was not intended to be punishment because of alleged arguments between their parents, coaches and ASA.

ASA’s next major mistake was the way in which they went about organizing the ‘window period’ meetings. If they are satisfied with the way in which these meetings were being conducted, there is certainly something seriously wrong in South African athletics.

The June meetings were badly organised. How can athletes be expected to perform if, in certain events, only one or two athletes participated. Does the IAAF rules make provision for girls competing against boys in order to qualify? One must also wonder whether ASA officals understand the rule of pacemaking during middle distance races?

Listening to the procedures that were followed during the June events, one can also not help but wonder how important wind metre readings are when it comes to qualifying for important events like a World Championship.

Lastly, probably the worst mistake made by ASA during their selection process, was the total lack of consistency. On what grounds did ASA select certain athletes who had not complied with their rule of re-qualification, while athletes who had done everything strictly according to the rules, were not selected.

There is a very good chance that quite a few young athletes who missed out on being selected, will now consider rather playing rugby or another sport where they reckon they will receive a fair deal.

South African athletics is already considered by many to be a dying sport. Can this ever be allowed to happen?

Irvin Khoza must laugh himself senseless whenever he ventures near a televison set or picks up a newspaper.

It seems the all-powerful local football strongman does not need to lift a finger in his unrelenting tussle for supremacy with the South African Football Association (Safa) as his dunderhead adversaries are doing such a superb job at shooting themselves in the foot that they do not need anyone else to do it for them.

Such have been the public relations bungles at Safa president Kirsten Nematandani’s office that the Iron Duke, as Khoza is known, must be wondering just how the hell he lost the bitterly contested presidential elections to this bungling lot last September.

Nematandani, in particular, is suddenly looking like a poster boy for indecisive incompetence and he certainly did not cover himself in glory when he sparred with veteran journalist Mark Gleeson at a chaotic press briefing the other day.

Salivating media members had gathered in Sandton in numbers, expecting Safa to finally put the nation out of its misery and announce outgoing Bafana Bafana coach Carlos Alberto Parreira’s replacement.

But shocked journalists were instead told that a convoluted process had been set up to decide whether Parreira’s assistant – Pitso Mosimane – was fit to be awarded the plum job.

This is the very same Mosimane who had been assured by a litany of Safa officials each time they ventured within 100 metres of a microphone that the job was his.

Mosimane has served as Parreira’s understudy since 2006 and it was understood that he would be skilled enough to ascend to the hot seat after gaining adequate experience as an assistant coach at the 2008 African Nations Cup, the 2009 Confederations Cup and finally the Soccer World Cup. And yet his employers were now suddenly singing a very different tune.

Nematandani and Safa CEO Leslie Sedibe barely made sense as they tried to explain that the executive committee had merely recommended Mosimane as the new coach but it was up to a newly formed technical committee to decide whether Parreira’s assistant should be given the job.

“If it was my wish we would be appointing a new coach today,” Nematandani said, without much conviction. “But unfortunately I cannot short-circuit this process and we have to follow it to the end.”

Irate media members demanded to know why Safa had wasted their time when they knew very well that they had nothing to tell the nation. Gleeson told Nematandani that this clumsy act of ineptitude only served to make the new administration look very much like the bewilderingly shambolic mob they replaced last September.

The Safa president lost it and tried to intimidate Gleeson by adopting a confrontational façade. But the journalist refused to budge and in end, Nematandani ended up looking like a clueless dictator of a banana republic. It certainly was not the Safa president’s finest hour.

The radio stations loved it and who could blame them? Of course, Khoza must have also loved it because Nematandani and his executive are continuing to commit public relations suicide all on their own.

The fact is the whole world knows that South African football will be plunged into an ugly scrap for the conservatively estimated R1billion that Fifa will leave in Safa’s coffers after the Soccer World Cup and the war will begin as soon as the last of our visitors have been seen through the gates at OR Tambo International Airport.

For those who do not know, Khoza’s camp refuses to recognise the current Safa leadership and the Iron Duke’s mob is expected to set the ball rolling by launching a legal challenge that will test the legitimacy of Nematandani’s presidency in the coming weeks.

Both camps have spent the last few months leaking stories that are intended to paint the opposing faction in a poor light. So the race is on to win public opinion but at this rate, perhaps Khoza needn’t be worried after all.

For many years I have watched with envy at many football World Cups, rugby World Cups and Olympic Games… and like many I must admit that I was somewhat sceptical at how we would deliver this year’s football showpiece.

Not to say we would not be able to deliver it but it was whether we would be able to meet if not exceed the expectations of our nation and those that the rest of the African continent had placed on us.

Three weeks into the World Cup I can say without a shadow of a doubt that this has to be one of the best, if not the best, sporting events ever and that has not only made me proud to say that I am a South African but I beat my chest in appreciation to my creator that I am an African.

It is though with somewhat of a heavy heart that I celebrate South Africa hosting the World Cup as it would have been fitting to have Bafana Bafana, Ivory Coast, Cameroon and to a lesser extent Algeria still in the tournament but my heart, body and soul are fully committed to the cause of Ghana’s Black Stars who should be renamed the African Stars.

True, I still harbour some reservations about Bafana’s performance or rather lack thereof especially in their match against Uruguay but their ability to bounce back with an emphatic victory over France to bow out of the World Cup with their heads held high gave me hope.

Ivory Coast and Cameroon seemed to suffer the same fate as Bafana of not believing in themselves and only waking up to the dream of playing in a World Cup on African soil when the exit door was open and they had taken the first step outside.

Even the Algerians showed plenty of fight in their games and even though they failed to record a victory they held an overrated, star-studded England team to a goalless draw.

But the manner in which these African sides arose from the ashes and managed to bow out with their dignity is certainly something Africa can learn from and take forward into the next World Cup in Brazil.

I say this because the rest of the world did not believe that Africa could stage a World Cup, let alone make it as successful, if not better, than previous tournaments held in Europe.

Secondly, no African team had been predicted to go past the Last 16 round, even in this tournament that had a strong African contingent laden with superstars who are hailed as demigods in their respective European leagues.

I say we must take the lessons learnt from the past three weeks and as a continent use them to build stronger teams to compete in 2014. South Africa have the money and the players too, to be a force to be reckoned with — not only in Africa but in the world. But that will come with meticulous planning and most importantly in investing in development and structures from grassroots level up to the Premier Soccer League.

Africa should learn that what is African is not second rate and if we employ our own coaches, play our own brand of football then there is no reason why we cannot emulate Brazil, Mexico, Italy, Germany, Japan, Argentina, Spain, Holland and South Korea as teams who have done well in previous tournaments and this one under the mentorship of their countrymen.

While many might have hoped, prayed and Charles Dempsey went as far as not voting so that the World Cup didn’t come to Africa, it has finally come and in the same way that many pray and hope that an African team will never win a World Cup, Africa needs to rise to the occasion, again.

Maybe, just maybe the Olympics will be staged on African soil in the not too distant future and while many might not believe that Africa is ready I believe that Durban could be the host come 2020.

It is at a time like this that the words of former state president Thabo Mbeki said during his “I am an African” speech 14 years ago at the adoption of the South African Constitution Bill rings true.

“I am also able to state this fundamental truth that I am born of a people who are heroes and heroines. I am born of a people who would not tolerate oppression. I am of a nation that would not allow that fear of death, torture, imprisonment, exile or persecution should result in the perpetuation of injustice. The great masses who are our mother and father will not permit that the behaviour of the few results in the description of our country and people as barbaric. Patient because history is on their side, these masses do not despair because today the weather is bad. Nor do they turn triumphalist when, tomorrow, the sun shines.

Whatever the circumstances they have lived through and because of that experience, they are determined to define for themselves who they are and who they should be… As an African, this is an achievement of which I am proud, proud without reservation and proud without any feeling of conceit…

But it seems to have happened that we looked at ourselves and said the time had come that we make a super-human effort to be other than human, to respond to the call to create for ourselves a glorious future, to remind ourselves of the Latin saying: Gloria est consequenda – Glory must be sought after!

Today it feels good to be an African…”

Athletes and coaches have been at loggerheads with the decision makers of Athletics South Africa (ASA) for years now about the exact timing of the local athletics season.

Under the Leonard Chuene regime, the belief was that the earlier the seson started, the better. This meant that the first Yellow Pages meeting took place as early as the end of January and the season ended middle March.

Unfortunately, this also meant that local athletes were at their peaks at a time when athletes from the rest of the world were only starting to compete seriously.

When asked why the local season could not start later, former ASA national team manager, Wilfred Daniels, reiterated that athletes should be able to peak twice a year and, therefore, there was no need to start the local season later. “Finish and klaar.”

But, in practice, this theory did not work. This shortsightedness actually turned out to be one of the main reasons why athletics is currently a dying sport in South Africa.

One just has to look at the results of the past Yellow Pages series, during which the handful of spectators were treated to one mediocre performance after another.

Since 2005, South Africa’s performance at major events, such as the Olympics and World Championships, has been one major disappointment after the other.

During the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki, as well as during the 2007 World Champhionships in Osaka, no South African athlete was able to win a medal.

Khotso Mokoena was the only athlete who managed to win a medal at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.  At the World Championships in Berlin last year, South Africa won three medals (two gold and one silver). It would be difficult to make out a convincing argument that a country should be proud of winning four medals at four major international events. This boils down to an average of one medal per event.

Matters are made even worse by the fact that ASA has, since 2005, relied on only three athletes, namely Khotso Mokoena, Mbulaeni Mulaudzi and LJ van Zyl, to fly the South African flag at major meetings. Questions should be asked why this is the case.

To blame all South Africa’s athletics problems solely on the way the local season is structured would not be fair. There are a number of other major problems in South African athletics, for example inadequate grassroot development and the fact that schools allow team sports to kill athletics.

Nonetheless, the restructuring of the local season could be a first step towards helping South African athletes to become true world beaters in the international arena again. Richard Stander, from ASA, has already taken a step in this direction by sending out an email to athletes and coaches, encouraging them to give their views on a possible restructuring of the local season.

Van Zyl (400-hurdles) and Juan van Deventer (one of South Africa’s top 1 500m athletes) are both firm believers that the local season should be brought in line with the international athletics calendar by starting later.

“Just imagine a situation where athletes from all over the world should take a break during October and then start to train again in November. In this scenario, the problem for South African athletes will be that, while the American athletes will only have to start competing in March or April, we will have to be ready to compete at the end of January,” Van Zyl said. “This means that most South African athletes have only about two months to train properly, in comparison with the American athletes who have five to six months. It makes a huge difference.

“If I, as an athlete, should give an opinion about when the local season should start and finish, my suggestion would be that the Yellow Pages series should only begin in April. The season should culminate at the South African Championships, which should take place at about the middle of May, perhaps just before the first IAAF Diamond League meeting in Doha, Quatar.

“If this could be arranged, most of the local athletes would be in top form for the Doha meeting, because they would have used the Yellow Pages series as preparation for their respective European campaigns.”

According to Van Zyl, who did not win any medals during the past two national championships, he would be able to run world class times in South Africa, and not just at international meetings, if the season were to start later.

Van Deventer suggested that the South African Championships should take place at the same time as the national championships in the USA and in other countries.

“I think most athletes wouldn’t have a problem with flying back to compete at the SA National Championships if it is in line with what is happening in international athletics. The advantage of having the national championship later, will be that it will serve as proper trials for the selection of the South African teams that will compete at a World Championship or the Olympic Games.”

Francois Fouche, of the University of Johannesburg, agrees that the national championship should start later. He also mentioned that, in his opinion, the lack of opportunities for young athletes to compete, is another problem in South African athletics.

“The Yellow Pages, which consists of six events and a national championship, is basically all that the local season offers. Unfortunately, the Yellow Pages is a very selective series, that does not give many athletes an opportunity to compete in the events. This is not good enough, especially considering that there are about 1,5 million registered athletes in South Africa.”

Another coach, Jean Verster, thinks a possible solution could be to have the local season start in December with, as it used to be in days gone by, a series of events at the coast. “A series at the coast in December, could bring athletics back to the people and it could help to make them aware of athletics.

“I think we should bring events such as the Top Ten back, as well as club and provincial meetings. But athletes should not be forced to run fast times or achieve great distances at the beginning of the season. The emphasis should be on participation.

“In the Top Ten competition, for example, it used to be all about athletes trying to earn maximum points for their respective teams.”

Nico van Heerden, also a coach, reckons that one of the major problems experienced in South African athletics because of the short season, is that many athletes never get a reasonable opportunity to qualify for representing South Africa at important meetings. “I can use Pieter Smith, last year’s SA 400m champion, as an example. Pieter has come into top form only recently, but the problem is that it is too late for him to qualify for the Commonwealth Games.

“It is expensive for athletes to compete internationally on a regular basis and basically only athletes with proper sponsors are able to compete in Europe. Pieter does not have the money to do that. To help athletes such as Pieter and many others, we need to have proper meetings locally to give athletes the opportunity to qualify.”

Hello everybody, my name is Mark and I was once a 2010 Soccer World Cup non-believer!

There I said it — really got it off my chest aka Alcoholics Anonymous style.

Yes, I truly thought it was a mistake for South Africa to get the World Cup. Crime, infrastructure, corruption, more pressing issues to spend money on, you name it.

But this World Cup fever is a strange thing. Just when you think your immune system is wide awake this sporting bug sneaks in at the far post.

The media hype is at saturation level — apparently barring the Frenchies who have seemingly remained mute and morose at their Pezula retreat. Clearly their mouths are choc-a-bloc full of Knysna lagoon frog’s legs or they’re miffed at having to share the sporting limelight with their national rugby side who are also in the Cape.

I swore I’d never get used to the braying of the vuvuzelas but come noon on Wednesday when Cape Town rocked to the sound of the long horn it actually felt quite natural.

Yes I know that Bafana Bafana are probably not going to set the World Cup alight but so what?

The groundswell of unity that I’ve witnessed over the last few weeks has given me renewed hope that sport can lift a nation.

No, crime is not going to go away, there will always be poverty and corruption but if the World Cup can at least get people talking/communicating/sharing/going forward it would have done its job.

Sure, there have been two groups of journalists attacked and robbed before the first ball was kicked in anger. The plus side is that the SAPS were quick to make arrests. May their rapid response continue well after the World Cup has gone.

Sure there have been worse naysayers than this columnist. One columnist wrote in a Cape Town daily newspaper that nothing would change. ‘The country will, inevitably, again succumb to the greater gods of black grievance and white resentment.’

Does it have to be that way? Perhaps that’s the way that some people want it to be and persist on perpetuating the past out of bitterness. If each person took it upon themselves to play open cards and have open minds perhaps, just perhaps sporting common cause can translate into the greater cause?

Driving through Cape Town this week, more cars than not sported SA and other flags, the upgraded station boasted flags, Thibault Square was ringed with flags, vuvuzelas blared out before sunrise.

Forget the “Soccer Friday” theme. It seemed like every day was Soccer day. And the tournament hadn’t even kicked off yet.

At long last it seems people have become aware of the sheer magnitude of the Soccer World Cup. This is not the Rugby World Cup or the Cricket World Cup people. We’ve hosted them before but they are mere muffled whispers compared to the vuvuzela that is the World Cup.

This may be the one and only time the Soccer World Cup ever visits these shores. Four weeks down the line don’t kick yourself for missing it. It’s here. Feel it!

It may be asking too much but what odds that come Sunday there may just be a hat-trick of South African victories — soccer, rugby and, judging by the state of the opposition, a cricketing triumph in the West Indies as well.

Now I wonder if it’s too late to sign up for vuvuzela lessons…