The South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee has bagged the biggest sponsorship of its eight-year existence, believed to be at least R3-million for this year alone.
The first phase of the four-year deal with Procter and Gamble will assist South African athletes ahead of the London Olympics in July and fund sports development programmes at school level.
Specific details of the development programme had yet to be worked out, said Stanislav Vecera, Procter and Gamble's vice-president for south and east Africa.
Sascoc, formed in 2004, has struggled to secure the kind of corporate backing enjoyed by its predecessor, the National Olympic Committee of South Africa.
Sascoc's deal with the fast-moving consumer goods company would last four years with an option to renew in 2016, said Sascoc CEO Tubby Reddy.
Sascoc is expected to announce a second sponsorship next week and a third early next month.
P&G, also a global Olympic sponsor until 2020, will launch a campaign honouring the mothers of athletes, flying selected mums to the Games. For SA, it will be the mother of 800m runner Caster Semenya.
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