By Razeen Gutta
The South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) is pleased with how well Team South Africa did at the Paris Olympics, where they won six medals – double the number they earned at the Tokyo Olympics.
Leon Fleiser, Sascoc’s high-performance manager and Team SA’s leader in Paris, said he was proud of the athletes’ achievements.
“We’re very happy with Team South Africa’s performance,” Fleiser said.
“We said we would do better than Tokyo, and we’ve doubled our medals, so we’re extremely proud of what the athletes have done for us.”
Fleiser admitted that Sascoc wanted to give more support before the Paris Games but couldn’t due to funding issues.
However, looking ahead to the 2028 Games in Los Angeles, Sascoc plans to provide even more help to ensure the athletes are better prepared.
Sascoc will start by giving R2.1-million in rewards to the Paris medal winners and begin a full support programme for the next four years.
“Now the hard work starts for LA,” Fleiser said.
He also mentioned that Sascoc will visit LA in October to start planning and will work with all the sports organisations to secure funding through Bidvest and the National Lotteries Commission so athletes get the support they need.
Pictured above: Team SA medal-winning relay team.
Source: @laureussport
