Sport ministry tells federations not to lift Olympic qualifying standards

Deputy sport minister Peace Mabu on Saturday told national federations not to lift qualifying standards for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, saying they were serious about sports minister Gayton McKenzie’s plan to get 300 competitors to the next Games.

Mabu’s call at the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) AGM in Johannesburg was a major turn-around after the previous two ministers, Zizi Kodwa and Nathi Mthethwa, had called for smaller Olympic teams, presumably to limit costs.

But the ministry’s new plan, dubbed Project 300, dovetails with the bulk of sports bodies that in 2019 voted against Sascoc’s stringent qualifying standards that had excluded several codes from Rio 2016.

Team South Africa totalled 149 at Paris 2024 and 179 at Tokyo 2020.

“Our plan to take 300 athletes to LA will take serious resources,” Mabu said. “In planning for Project 300 we are concerned we have not been taking as many athletes [as possible] … We would like to … take every athlete who qualifies and we do not create our own internal qualifying criteria.”

Mabu’s call was directed largely at Swimming South Africa which late last year imposed stiffer qualifying standards that ultimately excluded water polo and open-water swimming.

The South African National Boxing Organisation (Sanabo) declined to send a team to the final Olympic qualifying tournament in Thailand.

And in apparent reference to Jo-Ane van Dyk, the women’s javelin silver medallist in Paris, Mabu spoke about athletes who were “falling through the cracks” when it came to Sascoc’s Operation Excellence programme aimed at funding potential medallists.

Sascoc president Barry Hendricks said OpEx had funded 92 athletes and promised “the number is going to expand”. He said Sascoc was in discussions with the National Lottery about funding over four-year Olympic cycles.

He reiterated his concern over the poor running of some national federations, with concerns ranging from governance to executive members staying on for decades.

“Financially, Sascoc is in a very strong position,” he said.

Sascoc posted an accumulated surplus of R21.4m. It had a R27.6m deficit for the year ended March 31, 2024 that was cushioned by revenue received and reported in the previous period.

Income totalled R73.1m with expenses coming to R105.5m. The single biggest cost was R19.98m for the African Games, R8.36m for the Youth Commonwealth Games and R3.26m for the world para-athletics championships.

Sascoc also spent R9.89m on national federations, R4.48m on legal expenses, R2,54m on advertising, R1.74m on meetings, R1.6m on repairs and maintenance and R1.36m on “commission paid”.

Staff costs totalled R23.4m with the CEO earning R3.3m, including a 13th cheque, and the COO R2m.