Already the drama begins all over again in Beijing.

The SA Paralympic team has arrived to all manner of disorganisation thanks to the Sascoc ‘officials’. Firstly it seems that the ‘officials’ think that they are better than the athletes. On the flight over here, the ‘officials’ were put in business class and the athletes crammed into economy class. The result was cramped athletes with a whole host of problems. Arnu Fourie has so far been unable to put on his artificial limb because of the swelling and therefore unable to do any training.

Talking of training, the SA ‘officials’ were meant to provide hydration packs. These were not evident and our Paralympians had to walk (or roll) over two kilometers to get water. This is entirely unacceptable!

Don’t worry it gets worse!

Most of the athletes have spent the last six days training in the same tracksuits because the SA organisers have not yet shipped over the official outfits. As a result athletes have had to train in whatever they brought over with them. In fact most of the equipment needed has not arrived yet in Beijing.

I will not even begin to comment on the outfit that they are meant to be wearing at the opening ceremony. Rofl!!! The Olympic team looked like idiots in their outfits - these are waaaay worse!!

This is absolute bullshit! Why are these basic things not being provided?? Who the hell are these idiots who have meant to organise this??

South African Sport Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) has done a really piss-poor job for both the Olympics and the Paralympics. These people need to be fired immediately. It is no wonder that we have a mere single medal so far!

I wish the athletes good luck - both in the games as well as with the incompetence of the ‘officials’!

It has been a long, cold winter for South African sports. First the lack of performance and in-fighting with the Olympics, then the dismal performance in the rugby and now the train-smash in cricket.

Why is our sport suffering so much recently?

Most of the problems seem to be the in-fighting between coaches, managers and sport leaders. Even certain team members have had clashes with management. It is little wonder that with an unhealthy environment such as this that it has an effect on sports men and womens performances.

There is also a lack of support for our athletes. Take the Olympics for example. Why were the athletes sent home as soon as they had finished their sport? Why were they not allowed to remain behind and enjoy the rest of the games like all the officials? This is hardly an exercise in team building.

Forcing athletes to sign pledges of team spirit etc is another stupid idea. These athletes were there more for their own achievements than that of SA. Of course they are going to give of their best without the need of some stupid pledge form.

Another major factor is the lack of decent money given by the government. Currently the entire Olympic team receives R50-million a year from National Lottery funds. This is a pathetically small amount compared to what most other countries receive. How much is given to rugby and cricket development? Over the years we have seen a massive decline in the Rand, yet have seen very little increase in the funding for sports. How are our athletes and players meant to compete with this?
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Sitting here in Beijing and watching our South African brothers and sisters trying to get a medal and failing miserably, listening to the drama in the swim team and spending way to much money, I was in quite a depressed mood.

And then along came an absolutely sterling performance by Khotso Mokoena in the long jump. From the beginning he looked relaxed and ready to go. And jump he did … all the way to our first medal.

From BlogSouthAfrica: Well done Khotso!

The more I have seen and heard here in Beijing, the more I am convinced that sports in general in South Africa is at a crossroads. Either they can get their sh!t together or this is one of the last medals we are going to see in a very long time.

On Sunday I was sitting with the Hungarian team, chatting about sports in general. It was like chalk and cheese compared to when I met the South African group. The Hungarians had a good team spirit and were really positive about their country and their sports. The atmosphere around the South African group was dismal and depressing in comparison.

There is a total lack of team spirit amongst our athletes. Each seems more focussed on their own lives and achievements. The drama in the SA swim team is exactly what I mean. If you don’t know about the drama, then google it.

We still have a few good events coming up. But I can’t help but wonder if we have seen our one and only medal for these games.