OK, the Olympics is over, what now?

[martelpypie]

What do you think we should do to get results in the 2012 Olympics, regarding BMX,  road cycling and mountain biking?

 

 

(I think Burry did exceptionally well considering all the races he took part in this year. He must be very tired)

 

[Willehond]

Who cares, the Vuelta starts in 7 days!

[Mak-daddy]

Only obvious to pump more money into cycling.Just look at what G.B has done with track cycling. Mak-daddy2008-08-23 13:16:11

[Yang]

Our administrators have a lot of work to do. Organise proper coaching, glaomourise the sport- like more pics of our lady cyclists hugging their bikes. Make our cyclists national heroes instead of headliners only in the cycling press and Supercycling. Whew- its a bit late. Too hard to start outlining the entire sports strategy for the country at this time ....... 

[Skye]

Beijing Paralympic 6-17 Sep

[Sean Badenhorst]

 

What do you think we should do to get results in the 2012 Olympics' date=' regarding BMX,  road cycling and mountain biking?

 

 

(I think Burry did exceptionally well considering all the races he took part in this year. He must be very tired)

[/quote']

 

Create a national 8-year plan that the whole country buys into. 2012 is a stepping stone Games for big success in 2016. Get big business, media and government involved and make sure competent administrators that actually know something about the sport they represent are in place. Pay them well, but fine and/or fire them if they stuff up.

 

Focus on youth development in a big way 16-20 year age group. Build more BMX track and velodromes in urban areas and use them for the intended purpose - often!

 

Get experienced, successful overseas cycling guru/coach to head it all up with no local political ties. Have monthly progress reports and financial statements published in major media. Pay talented athletes enough so they can live well and focus on winning a flippen gold medal.

 

Make sure the whole country knows who the members of Team SA are before they leave for the Games, not only when they win a medal...

 

And ensure that gold, silver and bronze medal winners are adequately rewarded for achieving, not only their goal, but South Africa's goal... And keep them in the system after the Games - if they're young enough, to gun for the next Games, if not, to prepare the next crop with their knowledge.

 

[Yang]

Is Terrence Parkin swimming or cycling?

PS Skye- thanks for the comment on my new avatar. I posted the pic of my Yin on that thread if you're interested. 

[Sean Badenhorst]

 

Is Terrence Parkin swimming or cycling?

PS Skye- thanks for the comment on my new avatar. I posted the pic of my Yin on that thread if you're interested. 

 

Don't think either. He's training for World Deaf Games cycling events currently as far as I know.

 

[NachoGrande]

Rather spend 11 million rand on show casing SA to the world in 2012 and make sure it flops again so the money is "well spent" according to government. And don't give ten cents to the athletes to help them perform, and when they don't then ask WHY?

[martelpypie]

 

 

Just imagine what we could have done with the Billions that were spent on weapons (++R40b) and the new soccer venues (Billions)?

We would have been able to buy the best coaches in the world, have sport academies in all major centres, have certain schools specialising in sport, pay all promising sportsman/ladies a decent salary just to focus on sport and to become the best in their discipline, send numerous teams overseas every year to compete against the best in the world and gain experience , etc etc etc..  

martelpypie2008-08-23 15:47:49

[Mak-daddy]

I second that martelpypie. I would rather spend the money on athletes than staging a once off event it would be more worth while in the long-run.The way our soccer is at the moment i dont think we even deserve to be at the next world cup even though we are host..Just my 2c

[Sean Badenhorst]

So, despite my optimism, Ramaala failed to impress in the marathon today and Team SA will leave the Beijing Games with one medal. One medal ? a silver one from Godfrey Mokoena in the long jump.

 

MuXmAn, turns out your early Olympic Games post of pessimism was actually prophetic. No, make that realistic. For an optimist like me, this Beijing Games was a massive disappointment as far as Team SA goes.

 

Will it be any different for London 2012? Does a poor Olympic Games performance really mean enough to the majority of South Africans to want to do something about it? Does the government not have enough problems to deal with already? Lots of questions. Here's another: who exactly do you ask for answers?

 

 

 

[martelpypie]

 

From todays Sunday Times

To get ahead at the Olympics we need to start at school
	Published:Aug 24, 2008

v

To get ahead at the Olympics, we need to plunge in at the deep end

Beijing?s the worst we?ve done for more than 50 years, writes David Isaacson.

It?s time for a fresh start Preparing Olympic stars must

ultimately start at school level. International journalists in Beijing

were taken to a local sports school where children, few older than 10,

performed incredible gymnastic feats

Ryk Neethling sat in the Olympic Village, discussing the ills of South African sport.

Funding was a key issue, naturally. The monthly stipends

given by the National Olympic Committee of SA to athletes were useful,

he said, but the problem was that the money was made available no more

than 18 to 24 months before the Games.

?It takes four years to prepare for an Olympics,? he said.

Figuring out the problem isn?t rocket science. Quite simply, South

Africa has yet to develop an Olympic programme with clearly defined

targets.

Administrators, with few exceptions, have remained

amateurs, happy to go to the Games on a wing and a prayer, while the

top nations of the world have become true professionals.

The lack of medals in Beijing wasn?t simply the result of

poor preparation over the past four years, it was because of poor

planning over the past 12, maybe 16 years.

There was much euphoria after Atlanta 1996 when SA ? with

three golds from a total of five medals ? finished above Britain on the

medals table. Britain set about spending fortunes to change its

fortune; South Africa gloated.

Britain squeezed into the top 10 in 2000 and again in

2004. After spending a reported ?265-million in the past four years,

its reward in Beijing will certainly be a top-five finish, maybe even

third place, above Russia and Australia.

But cash alone is not the answer, warns Dr Ross Tucker of

the Sports Science Institute of SA. ?We can throw money at the thing

all we want, but until we invest in the right expertise, it will be

wasted. It took Britain years to really see the fruits of their labour

and investment.

?The secret? Investment in the people and the expertise

of their coaches and management structures, which filters down to the

athletes.?

Tucker?s point is driven home by the frightening

statistic that South African sport gets R500-million a year from the

national lottery alone, excluding sponsorships and limited government

funding. Sport sponsorship alone exceeded R5-billion last year,

although about half of that was spent on advertising. Even so, barely a

sausage went to Olympic sports, with soccer, rugby and cricket getting

the biggest share.

Swimming SA and Athletics SA have modest sponsorships,

but the parent SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) ?

created in 2004 by amalgamating bodies like the National Olympic

Committee of SA (Nocsa), the Commonwealth Games Association, Disability

Sport, and the statutory Sport Commission ? received nothing.

Sascoc?s creation was a direct result of what was

considered a disastrous performance at the Sydney 2000 Games, where SA

won five medals, but not a single gold.

Then minister of sport Ngconde Balfour established a

ministerial task team that eventually recommended a single body to

oversee high-performance sport. But preparing Olympic stars must ultimately start at school level.

International journalists in Beijing were taken to a local sports

school where children, few older than 10, performed incredible

gymnastic feats. The boys were pre-pubescent, but already they had

clearly defined muscles. That?s the sort of commitment required.

An Olympic programme would surely have to prioritise

certain sports, and the key ones would obviously be athletics and

swimming. Both face administrative challenges ? problems within ASA

have been well documented in this newspaper, while swimming?s inability

to adequately manage its US-based stars has become glaringly obvious.

Dr Ekkart Arbeit, ASA?s head coach , is to submit a

report making recommendations to uplift the sport. He says a major

problem is that there are no paid coaches in South Africa, nor is there

a systematic method of talent identification.Nations are allowed three entrants per athletics event, yet South

Africa was unable to field a full complement in a single competition in

Beijing, not even the marathon. No South African was good enough to

compete in the 5000m and 10000m races.

South Africa needs to find an event, maybe two, on which

to concentrate and become world leaders. Kenya?s 3000m steeplechase

runners have taken every gold since 1984; China has enjoyed table

tennis medals at every Olympics since 1992; and Indonesia has had

badminton success every time since 1992.martelpypie2008-08-24 03:05:51

[Sean Badenhorst]

Obviously these three people that head up SASCOC http://www.sascoc.co.za/content.asp?id=11342 have alternative job options. Well, they should have.  Four years to get it right and they didn't. I think that's plenty of time.

 

Obviously they don't have an influence on the actual competition at the Games, but they have all the power and money to ensure our athletes are properly prepared for the Games.

 

Here is a pre-Games press release relating to a SASCOC general meeting that has more content about local politics and politicians than it does about the athletes http://www.sascoc.co.za/article.asp?id=262437

 

Interestingly Mashishi's cell number is published at the bottom of this article. Couldn't find his latest CV, he's hopefully updating it.

 

 

 

 

[pastapouch]

time to stop watching TV and start training for 94.7. Oh, that may be postponed another 2 months.

[Willehond]

......

 

But preparing Olympic stars must ultimately start at school level. International journalists in Beijing were taken to a local sports school where children' date=' few older than 10, performed incredible gymnastic feats. The boys were pre-pubescent, but already they had clearly defined muscles. That?s the sort of commitment required.

..........

[/quote']

 

May we never stoop this low.  If you saw how the Chinese train these poor kids you would not want that forced onto our kids.  Let's rather focus on sports for adults like athletics and swimming and keep the pressure to perform of our kids.  If you've been to a scool event recently you will know they under enough pressure already!

 

Then again, is the Olympics really that important?  Do we need to perform at some pointless pageant where everyone gets swept up by misplaced nationalistic pride?  Are Britain and China somehow better countries to live in and should we all rush off to live there because they throw a lot of money into Olympic sports?  Come on pistol shooting, show jumping, synchronised swimming and diving, white water rafting, table tennis, weight lifting???  These aren't real sports!

 

Spend money on the athletes and coaches and give them support in the major disciplines where they can earn a living outside of the Olympic year.  Oh, and buy them some decent kit!  I know I perform way better when I have shiny new equipment.