“That’s the important part because you want to be able to host the Olympics, but have medals to stay in South Africa, not medals leaving South Africa.
“And if we’re not developing that and not making that solid foundation, then we’re just hosting to host and I don’t want to see it like that.”
Simbine added that a South African bid would have to be done responsibly. “We have to be in a position where we are secure in everything that we have as a sporting nation. We’re not having kids that are struggling to find spikes or find tracks or, you know, not have equipment. That shouldn’t be the story.
“It should be we have all of these things, we’ve prepared, we’ve built the facilities and they’re being used by schools, by clubs and we have a feeder of young kids coming through.”
The South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) and the department of sport are to oversee an initial feasibility study and submit a report to cabinet for consideration, said Barry Hendricks, who was re-elected as Sascoc president on Saturday.
He agreed that the nation, if they were to host the Olympics, would need to invest heavily in preparing athletes to challenge for the podium.
Ramaphosa and Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi both spoke about boosting school sport.
SA 2036 Olympic bid will need to support development, says Simbine
Image: Gallo Images/Frennie Shivambu
A South African Olympic bid for 2036 will need to factor in investments into high-performance and development sport, says sprint star Akani Simbine.
He was talking after he and the country’s other Olympic and Paralympic medallists were handed recognition of excellence certificates by President Cyril Ramaphosa at the Union Buildings in Pretoria.
With the traditionally exorbitant cost of the showpiece expected to drop because of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) deciding to allow multi-city bids — it might even entertain a multi-country proposal — and to do away with minimum seating requirements for arenas, a South African bid becomes more realistic.
But winning medals is a key feature of hosting the Games, said Simbine, who has competed at three Olympics, finishing fifth in the 100m at Rio 2016 and fourth at both Tokyo 2020 and in Paris, where he also anchored the 4x100m relay team to silver.
Ramaphosa commits to school sport as he honours Olympic, Paralympic stars
“That’s the important part because you want to be able to host the Olympics, but have medals to stay in South Africa, not medals leaving South Africa.
“And if we’re not developing that and not making that solid foundation, then we’re just hosting to host and I don’t want to see it like that.”
Simbine added that a South African bid would have to be done responsibly. “We have to be in a position where we are secure in everything that we have as a sporting nation. We’re not having kids that are struggling to find spikes or find tracks or, you know, not have equipment. That shouldn’t be the story.
“It should be we have all of these things, we’ve prepared, we’ve built the facilities and they’re being used by schools, by clubs and we have a feeder of young kids coming through.”
The South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) and the department of sport are to oversee an initial feasibility study and submit a report to cabinet for consideration, said Barry Hendricks, who was re-elected as Sascoc president on Saturday.
He agreed that the nation, if they were to host the Olympics, would need to invest heavily in preparing athletes to challenge for the podium.
Ramaphosa and Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi both spoke about boosting school sport.
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