South African Sports Commission and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) president Moss Mashishi conceded on Monday that South Africa does not have anywhere near the level of cash resources injected into sport by the Australians.
”Between the Sydney Olympics in 2000 and the 2004 Athens Olympics, Australia invested Aus$800-million [R3,6-billion] in their athletes. For the same period, South Africa spent around R60-million.”
In real terms that means Australia spend 60 times more per athlete than South Africa.
Calls for larger investment in SA athletes came from Team SA chef de mission Gideon Sam following their return from the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. SA finished in fifth position overall with 38 medals –including 12 gold — eclipsing the sixth-place finish at the 2002 games in Manchester.
”We should be getting more money,” said Mashishi. ”But the first job is to maximise the funds we do have. At the moment it is spread too much and too thin, so we need to prioritise where the money should go.”
He added that once it was important to look to the business sector as well, but they are obviously looking at a market return.
”We can’t look to sponsorship from business as a donation. But hopefully once they see how well the athletes are performing, they will find it worth their while to invest in our sportsmen.”
While certain sports such as rugby sevens falls away at the Olympics, there are many others that do come into the reckoning.
Canoeist Shaun Rubenstein (21) feels that it would be great for full-time athletes to receive some funding towards their living expenses. ”I would also like to see money used for sports massages and individual assessments.”
Rubenstein added that he was lucky in that Canoeing SA paid for his coaching. ”I’m grateful that I have a top-class coach in Nandor Almasi to train with on a daily basis. They will also sponsor around 75% of our trip to the World Cup events in Germany and Poland and also the trip to the World Championships at Hungary in August.
”But that means I will still have to layout around R5 000 for each trip myself.”
He also has to find money for training camps. ”At the moment I am in Port Edward at a camp for three weeks and that costs me R3 500.” However, he does have his equipment sponsored by a boat manufacturer in Europe.
”Just by way of comparison,” said Rubenstein, ”the canoeing team in England are given £1-million pounds a year to use towards training, travelling and personal expenditure.”
But Rubenstein said he was heartened by the positive results of the Commonwealth Games athletes. ”I knew their performances would spark interest working towards the Olympics. When you look at someone like LJ van Zyl, who took gold in the 400m hurdles, he is a guy that could provide South Africa with an Olympic champion for many years to come.” — Sapa