Finally ? a medal!

[Canaris]

Whoopee!
We just spoke about it in the office... What has gone wrong? Or are we the only clean nation?
*ek spot net*

Preparation for something like the Olympics in SA is a joke' date=' that's the problem.

The fact that our sports directors think that by organising a few training camps a few years leading up to the games suggests their lack of knowledge.

It takes about 10 years to develop an athlete to be able to compete at that level? why do our sports director think we ca do it in less? Are they that stupid?

Sport in SA is being handicapped by a number of factors:
1.     The amount of money put into top level sports ? that why most top athletes leave.
2.     Quota systems in anything other than development sides ? pathetic!
3.     Sport in tertiary institutions is not where it should be.

There are more? but the bottom line is that too many people are getting involved in sport who should not be involved in sport. How can you develop sport if the people at the top are there for political reasons alone?[/quote']

 

and the Zimbabwe model for success is?

[swift]

no one would have guessed in the long jump !!

 

 

 

 

He was a medal hope. I watched a cool interview with him a few months ago...

 

 

 

Great effort!

[Frosty]

And let's not forget about Natalie du Toit... she swims on Wednesday in the 10Km open water race... was probably odds-on favourite to win our first medal (until today).

[swift]

Whoopee! We just spoke about it in the office... What has gone wrong? Or are we the only clean nation? *ek spot net*

Preparation for something like the Olympics in SA is a joke' date=' that's the problem. The fact that our sports directors think that by organising a few training camps a few years leading up to the games suggests their lack of knowledge. It takes about 10 years to develop an athlete to be able to compete at that level? why do our sports director think we ca do it in less? Are they that stupid? Sport in SA is being handicapped by a number of factors: 1.     The amount of money put into top level sports ? that why most top athletes leave. 2.     Quota systems in anything other than development sides ? pathetic! 3.     Sport in tertiary institutions is not where it should be. There are more? but the bottom line is that too many people are getting involved in sport who should not be involved in sport. How can you develop sport if the people at the top are there for political reasons alone?[/quote']

 

?

 

and the Zimbabwe model for success is?

 

 

 

1 very good swimmer who does not even live in the country... read the news

[mallo]

Swift you hit the nail on the head after watching our ladies in the triathlon one wonders what must be done to have a high performance academy set-up for our sports people, The 11 million rand wasted on the Hotel showpiece would have been a great start though. I see Hendrik complaining as well, wonder why, he normally uses these races,even world champs as a build up to the New York Marathon and such where he gets good appearance fees let alone the race fee.

[Nettie R]

I watched him qualify. He's a brilliant athlete.

When is die MTB event?

[Willehond]

Wow that is fantastic news and a real medal as well (not one of those fake pathetic ones like synchronised swimming or pistol shooting!).  Long jump is one of the big ones.  Time to celebrate!!!!

 

In my opinion spending milions on getting medals is just misplaced nationalist pride at work.  We can rather develop juniors and get them into feeding systems to go and get trained  and compete overseas (like swimming, cycling and athletics).  Support our athletes all the time and they will excel.  Just throwing money at Olympic events/organisations is stupid and a huge waste of money.  Spend it on the athletes and they will stay and perform.

 

I think the Olympics sometimes brings out the nasty side of individuals and countries.  It seems to be more important to show the world how good you are (like China does) than to celebrate the success of the underdog which should be celebrated.  Pierre de Coubertin would probably be kinda ashamed of this elitism...

[Gnarly]

Whoopee! We just spoke about it in the office... What has gone wrong? Or are we the only clean nation? *ek spot net*

Preparation for something like the Olympics in SA is a joke' date=' that's the problem. The fact that our sports directors think that by organising a few training camps a few years leading up to the games suggests their lack of knowledge. It takes about 10 years to develop an athlete to be able to compete at that level? why do our sports director think we ca do it in less? Are they that stupid? Sport in SA is being handicapped by a number of factors: 1.     The amount of money put into top level sports ? that why most top athletes leave. 2.     Quota systems in anything other than development sides ? pathetic! 3.     Sport in tertiary institutions is not where it should be. There are more? but the bottom line is that too many people are getting involved in sport who should not be involved in sport. How can you develop sport if the people at the top are there for political reasons alone?[/quote']

 

and the Zimbabwe model for success is?

1 very good swimmer who does not even live in the country... read the news

 

Most people from Zim don't live there.

[Batmanza]

 

Whoopee!

We just spoke about it in the office... What has gone wrong? Or are we the only clean nation?

*ek spot net*

 

Preparation for something like the Olympics in SA is a joke' date=' that's the problem.

 

The fact that our sports directors think that by organising a few training camps a few years leading up to the games suggests their lack of knowledge.

 

It takes about 10 years to develop an athlete to be able to compete at that level? why do our sports director think we ca do it in less? Are they that stupid?

 

Sport in SA is being handicapped by a number of factors:

1.     The amount of money put into top level sports ? that why most top athletes leave.

2.     Quota systems in anything other than development sides ? pathetic!

3.     Sport in tertiary institutions is not where it should be.

 

There are more? but the bottom line is that too many people are getting involved in sport who should not be involved in sport. How can you develop sport if the people at the top are there for political reasons alone?[/quote']

 

and the Zimbabwe model for success is?

 

Live in the USA for 10 years.

 

[ratherberidin']

nice!  well its ok if you consider that phelps got eight times our whole team could in about the same time.. oh and he got gold..

[Minion]

 

 

... celebrate the success of the underdog ...

Speaking of which, I see that Panamanian who beat Mokoena won his country's first Olympic gold medal ever . Well done to him.

Edman2008-08-18 14:03:16

[Pocketbikes]

 

Walked out the other day, and in my neighbors yard is a yellow MTN Audi. Run over to see what I can "steal", and there's Siphisa, AKA Skizo with his team manager etc. They called on my neighbor (www.parisgraphix.co.za) to do the artwork and airbrushing of his helmet.

I only sat there for 5 mins, but you would never say you were chatting with a champion. There was no "I want.." it was"Is it possible if you can...". He is such a nice kid to speak to. So... no pressure SKIZO, we wish you the best

The pic of the helmet is here with some feedback from Beijing http://www.bmxsa.co.za

 

Pocketbikes2008-08-18 14:53:33

[Dirtbreath]

That's great.

 

Why is it that our medals come from events where it is less about infra-structure than about sheer hard work?

 

Sat through a power failure the whole of yesterday afternoon/night and am very surprised that this is not emblazoned on all my homepages this morning. 2nd or third story. I do suppose it is only sport and crazy kids on the west rand are more important.

 

Any way well done Krokodil!

 

ON the UK team I heard a figure of R5 billion for their Olympics Team largely funded by their lottery. That is big bucks! THey are worried that they wont get the same for the London Olympics.

[ShortLegs]

And SA spend R11 bar on a publicity stunt in Beijing that opened a week too late, isn't that more than they spent on the whole of SA sport?

[Delgado]

Mokoena gets silver in the men's long jump! Sigh.

Very nice!! But somehow I still prefer electricity!!