I think politics shouldn't be blamed for every single dissapointment in SA sport..Whenever things go wrong its politics..when the boks lose, like now, its politics...China is the country with by far the most politics in their sport and yet they walked home with the most gold medals. We need politics in sport, because that's where the money comes from...Its not the amateur days anymore... However what should be blamed is the structure in our sport(or the total lack thereof). There is no talent identification,no developmental programmes to help athletes reach their full potential, no plan, everything gets done on point no 99, even team selections(the SA 4*100m running relay team was still 2 weeks before the olympics trying to figure out who should start of, who should run the back straight...,while the french team was for the past 3years training together each day), no support(AT ALL)...Its pretty much a single athlete versus a team of specialist(athletes,coaches,physiologists,psychologists,nutrionalists etc etc....) when we compete at world class events, other than rugby or maybe cricket. Everything starts at the big fat bosses at the top and cascade down...If the boss shuffels sh!t down the pipeline don't expect gold at the bottom.
