It has not been a good time for South African sport. The fall-out from South Africa's Olympic campaign continues — and starts anew with our Paralympians — the Proteas ODI team leaves England humbled, and the Springboks finished last in the Tri-Nations. Can anything be done to lift our spirits?

We chatted to internationally-renowned sports scientist, Professor Tim Noakes, to get his views on SA's Olympic efforts and asked how it could be improved ahead of London in 2012.

The answer: prepare yourself for another four years of heartache...

1. Tim, with the benefit of hindsight, and in a nutshell, what went wrong for Team SA ahead of Beijing?

"The problem began in 1992 when Nocsa was formed. Nocsa failed to embrace the approach that was known to produce results — i.e. the model developed by Australia and based on what the East Germans had been doing for two decades between 1968 and 1988.

"As a result it has been pretty much downhill since then. The 2008 results have been coming since 1992. On that basis, the results for Team SA in the 2012 Olympic Games are already entirely predictable. Whatever we do in the next four years, it will have little effect in 2012. The lead time for change is more like 10-12 years. Even if we do what needs to be done now, the benefits will start to be noticed in the 2016 Olympic Games only."

2. There seems to be plenty of funding for Team SA, but is it being used in the right places?

"There seems to be a lack of transparency of exactly how much money has been spent on Team SA and where it was spent and what it purchased. In Great Britain it is quite easy to determine how much has been spent and for what purpose, as it is in Australia, as both countries have systems in place that ensure transparency and accountability. Those two countries may, however, be spending more than they care to admit since some monies may be funnelled through grants that are not as easily tracked. One gets the impression that there is a tendency to inflate what is being spent in South Africa.

"In this game, however, there is unfortunately never enough money. China has spent so much preparing their athletes for the 2008 Olympics that the cost of success has been inflated substantially. This is the reality. Either one invests the money and competes or one does not. The middle ground of benign neglect, hoping that a miracle will happen — the approach we have chosen since 1992 — is a waste of even those small resources that are provided."

3. Countries like Kenya, for instance, focus on their strengths (running), do SA need to start following suit?

"Absolutely. If you have limited resources you have to be cleverer than your opposition. Unfortunately every country with any desire for Olympic success is already focusing their efforts. So even a focused effort will be successful only if we act smarter than other countries."

4. In your opinion, is Sascoc worth anything at all?

"If Sascoc was listed on the JSE, would you invest your hard earned money in it? That is the question. Through the taxes they pay, the South African public is investing in Sascoc. The question is: Is the return on our money appropriate? If not then surely the South African public has the right to demand a new management? Or a new company?"

5. Is the constant in-fighting between officials the reason we are so often being derailed?

"In-fighting is a symptom of a larger disease. I am too far removed from South African sports administrators to understand the disease and what causes it. But until the disease is cured, South African sport really has no hope. For this disease has a prognosis worse than the most fatal cancer. Eventually, the cancer will destroy the body in which it grows. We are getting closer to that point each year."

6. The athletes themselves often bear the brunt of the blame, but should the focus be elsewhere?

"Elite sports performance in modern competition is NOT about the athletes. It is about the support the athletes receive from coaches, administrators, scientists and a whole range of other support personnel. Until we understand that, we cannot progress. Since many Olympic athletes and coaches are not receiving a level of support that can make them internationally competitive, they cannot be held exclusively accountable for their failures.

"To some extent, the administrators are being asked to undertake responsibilities for which they do not have the proper skills and training. Thus, the fault comes down to training involved in SA sport. Unless all appreciate their failings and the necessary structures are put in place to increase the knowledge at all levels of South African sport, we cannot move forward."

7. You submitted an extensive proposal for Team SA after Athens (2004), what happened with it?

"Officials of the Department of Sport assure us that they are working with intent to implement all aspects of the proposal. The President has said that we cannot achieve Olympic success with Lilliputian efforts. I interpret that as Presidential support for a major revamp of support for South African sport."

8. Have Sascoc every approached you as a consultant?

"I have served on various Sascoc committees. Each committee was promised that here finally is the solution for our sporting woes. Most recently my services were terminated because, I suspect, I mentioned in a talk at an IAAF coaches conference in Helsinki that South African coaches (in many sports) are reluctant to apply measurement and science in their methods. Apparently, constructive criticism is considered unpatriotic in South African sport.

"But the issue is not whether or not Sascoc consult me; it is whether they use all the best human resources in South Africa to help our athletes. If they don't, then they are failing the athletes."

9. Do any of our Olympians have access to the Sports Science Institute?

"A number of Olympians and Paralympians are part of the MacSteel Maestro's program run by Gill Taylor at the Institute and which provides year-round support for many sportsmen and women around the country. A number of other Olympians, whose federations so chose, were helped by the Discovery Health High Performance Centre at the Institute. But generally we were frustrated by the reluctance of many to avail themselves of the Institute's expertise and especially the difficulty of raising the money from the lotto to support those interactions between athletes, scientists and other sports practitioners.

"The reality is that not enough money has been allocated to fund support programs that are competitive with what is being done in Australia and Great Britain, not to mention China, Russia and Germany.

"Our greatest 'success' was with the Indian winner of the gold medal in the 10m rifle shooting contest, Abhinav Bindra. Bindra worked with PhD student Tim Harkness who use sophisticated methods to study his brain and muscle control when shooting and so to help his mental control. Bindra won with the last of his 60 shots when he shot a 10.8 compared to the 10.5 of the silver medallist.

"Bindra indicated that he won because of his self-belief, hopefully assisted by the support he received from working with Tim Harkness."

10. Going forward, what needs to be done to save SA sport?

"Accept that South African Olympic sport is suffering from a terminal illness that needs radical treatment, that if we do not act within the next few years, those remaining few who have the knowledge and expertise to treat the illness will have deserted the cause. In addition, the malaise currently affecting our Olympic sports will gradually extend to affect rugby and cricket as the quality of the personnel and structures supporting those sports also falls progressively further behind the rest of the world.

"Accept that the solution requires that more of the same will not produce a different result. Rather, it is time for radical surgery to change the prevailing attitudes and practices that have produced complacency, mediocrity, individual entitlement and cronyism. These must be replaced with the attitudes that are common in organisations that are world-class. Without this change it will not be possible to attract the financial investment from government and private enterprise necessary to turn South African sport around.

"Begin by implementing the proposals — the Tucker plan (more about this to follow on iafrica.com next week — ed.) — that we have given to the Minister and which he has promised to implement."

  • Can South African sport be helped, and how, or will it simply fade away? Leave a comment below!


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