'We want to introduce other sporting codes in schools' - Deputy Minister talks SA's potential bid to host 2036 Olympics

In the last five editions of the Olympic Games, all but one host nation have finished outside the top five on the medals table. Brazil which hosted the 2016 global sporting spectacular in the city of Rio, finished outside the top 10. Yet even the Brazilians amassed a total of nineteen medals to claim thirteenth position out of 86 nations to underline their status as one of the top sporting nations on planet earth. 

Mabe says the aim is build bigger teams for future Olympics. Photo credit: Khotso Mokoena.

It simply means that if South Africa are to be granted the right to host the 2036 Games then the nation's ability to win medals at the highest level must improve. Last week SASCOC made public their intention to submit a bid to host the quadrennial Games as one of two African nations alongside Egypt, that are vying for the honour of becoming the first African city to host the 128-year-old Games. But with only 19th place finish in London 2012 where the nation won six medals, four of which were gold as SA's best Olympic showing, all agree that the work to develop the next generation of Olympians must start to take priority.

"Once we don't develop children at grassroots level, there's no way that we are going to see talent. It cannot be correct that your talent is only recognised when you reach university. It only means you did not get the proper development and the proper coaching," said Deputy Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture Peace Mabe.

Made and Mokoena pose with the specialist mentors and junior coaches that will be trained as part of this programme. Photo Credit: Khotso Mokoena.

Mabe was speaking at the Khanya Lesedi school of Sports Specialization in the Heidelberg township of Ratanda where a new programme was launched to unearth and polish future Olympic medalists. Pioneered by Khotso Mokoena who attended the school before going on to win Olympic silver in the long jump at Beijing 2008, the programme which is sponsored by global infrastructure storage giant Vopak, seeks to coach the coaches that work with future champions. Mabe says the multidisciplinary approach brining together coaches from football, athletics and various other codes is what makes Mokoena’s initiative exciting.

"We also want to introduce other sporting codes in schools so that children are not only subjected to soccer and netball. They should be able to swim, or play cricket, volleyball, you name it because we want to build a big team for future olympics. We can only do that if we start nurturing talent from now and build towards that."