Julian Drew
SPORT today is big business and nowhere is this more apparent than with the multi-billion dollar industry that goes by the name of the Olympic Games.
Professionals in sports such as golf, tennis, basketball and football can make a good living out of their chosen vocations and the top stars become millionaires overnight. But many Olympians, whose athletic endeavours are the very raison d’etre for the Games, face near bankruptcy in their striving for excellence.
Most Olympic sports are still largely amateur pursuits and to reach an Olympic standard requires long hours of training and preparation over many years. For these athletes a normal career must be put on the backburner if they are to achieve their ultimate sporting goal and bring reflected glory on their country. Without the opportunities to earn a livelihood on a professional circuit they often have to make a painful decision. They must choose between their sport and their careers. Frequently, it is their sport which loses out.
The National Olympic Committee of South Africa (Nocsa) recognised this dilemma and it has just launched the Olympic Career Opportunities Programme (Ocop) in conjunction with Ernst & Young.
Ocop aims to find jobs for potential Olympic athletes which will help them develop along their chosen career paths while allowing them time off to train and compete.
Nocsa provides publicity for participating companies through press releases and allows them to use athletes for internal promotions but according to Ernst & Young executive chairman, Tom Wixley, the real benefits to a company are in the quality of the employee they will be hiring.
With a newly forged national identity and the realisation that sporting success, particularly at the Olympics, can bring about unity and strengthen that identity, Ocop is a programme that could well appeal to the South African corporate world’s sense of social responsibility.
“Ocop is really a magnanimous gesture on behalf of employers towards country, flag and president but in the future it is the companies who will benefit,” says Nocsa president, Sam Ramsamy, acknowledging the glory Olympic success would bring to South Africa.