PPic: Courtesy Wessel Oosthuizen/SASPA

SSomething extraordinary happened in the middle of the night last week.

In the least surprising result of the Olympic Games, Caster Semenya romped to gold with the same raw display of power and dominance exhibited by Usain Bolt. She was imperious, although the most telling part of her 800m race was what occurred afterwards. She sought out her opponents and shook their hands.

It was a poignant scenario, particularly after the baying hysteria Semenya had endured in the build-up. She had just won the ultimate plaudit in Rio’s Olympic Stadium, but she wasn’t too good or too self-absorbed to acknowledge her rivals, some of whom were bitter at her success.

The extraordinary effect of her performance was that in an instant she became a totem for black South African women. I make the distinction not because South Africa is so defined by race, which makes us uncomfortable, but because there are so few local role models for black sports women.

A few years ago when there were arguments about the inclusion of Zimbabwe-born Beast Mtawarira in the Springboks, a colleague made the point that it is important for youngsters to see people who look like them making it to the big time. It makes their own dreams more attainable, more believable. Mtawarira’s nation of birth thus counted for little. His skin is what mattered in the context of being a hero.

The emergence of Semenya is also a potent reminder of South Africa’s cynical past.

In researching SA’s best sports women, it was obvious that there were dozens of white participants who competed internationally and with great success. Double Olympic champion Penny Heyns is the most obvious, but you can add Zola Budd, Natalie du Toit, Ilana Kloss, Amanda Coetzer, Sally Little and many more.

The list of such black women is sparse. Historically, there are none from the 1960s, ’70s or ’80s, a legacy of apartheid and its cruel policies.

Prior to Semenya’s emergence, just two come to mind. The most evident of these is Portia Modise, the former Banyana striker who set records galore but never found a happy place in the public consciousness. She scored a staggering 101 goals in 124 internationals and was shortlisted for Fifa’s Player of the Year honours. She retired recently, but her fame has drifted away. For all her excellence, she made little money and attracted even less corporate interest. She has no significant profile and is all but forgotten.

The other black symbol is hockey player Marsha Marescia, who captained South Africa and played at three Olympic Games. She was world class, packing in over 300 internationals, but unfortunately hockey’s status militates against her enjoying a higher profile locally.

Semenya’s triumph advances the argument that she could now also be South Africa’s greatest sports woman. In my book, her only real rival is Heyns, who not only dominated the breaststroke at the Olympics, but enjoyed a remarkable three-month run in 1999 that yielded 11 world records.

Two things need pointing out: swimming and its many variances are low-hanging fruit in a sporting sense. At the risk of sounding churlish, Michael Phelps’ medal haul is an illustration of this.

The other point is that Semenya may very well be a two-time Olympic champion in the weeks or months to come. She won silver at the London Olympics, but gold medal winner Mariya Savinova later tested positive for doping. If this episode is taken to its natural conclusion, particularly with Russia’s state-sponsored doping a matter of public record, Savinova will have to relinquish her gold medal. The South African would then be elevated to gold.

It likely wouldn’t be celebrated beyond a press conference boardroom and a few tired sausage rolls, but it would validate claims that Semenya deserves to be in the reckoning as SA’s greatest sports woman.

No matter. At the very least, Semenya’s triumph ought to set the template for tens and thousands of young girls to take up sport and dare dream of international competition.

A trail was blazed in Rio for them to follow. That ought to be Semenya’s legacy, not the demeaning frenzy that refused to cow a remarkable woman and hero. – © Sunday Tribune

Where to from here?

This time next week the Olympic Games will be a distant memory, overtaken by our endless fascination of rugby, soccer and cricket. When 2020 rolls around, we’ll awake from our slumber and again immerse ourselves in the Olympic jamboree.

I was reminded of this truth when I read pleas that South Africa should adopt an Olympic culture, whatever that means. That’s wishful thinking. The many bits and pieces that make up our national sports fabric – federations, government, athletes, sponsors, coaches and fans – are so far apart you couldn’t get them into the same room, much less agree with one another.

But if we want to start a revolution, having mighty Wayde van Niekerk as the fuse would be the perfect way to start. The green shoots of talent abound in every small village and major city around South Africa, but athletics’ inability to nurture such talent means that tons of potential is never realised.

South Africa should be an Olympic powerhouse. We produce people who have the necessary physical attributes, we are competitive and excellent facilities are available for elite athletes.

Yet the ratio of athletes who attend the Games and the medals return is out of whack. Many participants seem to wilt amid the pressure of an Olympic Games and the opportunity is squandered.

Talent isn’t the problem. Exploiting it is.

What SA sport needs is a high performance revolution that underpins every elite-level competitor, be it in athletics, canoeing, boxing or table tennis. With few exceptions, our sport functions in small, isolated pockets. There’s little integration; each muddles its way through competition.

There are exceptions, like the Tukkies HPC where so many of our athletes have begun to emerge. But where is the equivalent for other athletics disciplines, or for sports like diving, soccer, wrestling and cycling?

If you think that SA won just a single medal in Beijing and six in London, this year’s return is encouraging, the most won at a single Olympics since the country’s return to international sport in 1992. But how many finalists could have been turned into medalists? How many bronze winners could have won silver? How many silver medalists could have stood atop the podium?

The irony is that South Africa possesses startlingly good resources: its people. Just imagine what intellectual capital people like Penny Heyns, Josia Thugwane, Ross Tucker, Roger Barrow, Sizwe Ndlovu, Marsha Marescia, Graham Hill and even tannie Ans Botha could bring to the table. Every single one of them would be willing to share their insights. If only someone could be bothered to ask them.

Athletics is the most glaring example of our sporting inertia. For years Athletics South Africa has muddled along, putting its energies into political point-scoring rather than awakening the sleeping giant. Sponsors used to line up outside the door, but those days are long gone.

So too the big-city meets that should to be such a highlight on the calendar. Big names would come out, stadiums would swell. One year they enticed Michael Johnson here. Just for fun he ran the 300m in Pretoria, breaking the world record, which still stands.

Eighteen years ago we hosted the Athletics World Cup. Marion Jones was one of the stars, winning the 100m (thankfully before her fall from grace).

The point is that athletics had a buzz about it. It mattered.

Van Niekerk’s golden run this week could light the flame for athletics, but my fear is that the sport’s leaders won’t grasp the nettle. I know this because swimming had such an opportunity in 2012, following the Olympic glories of Cameron van der Burgh and Chad Le Clos in London. But nothing changed.

No major sponsor came to the party, no new pools were developed, no major event was staged. Swimming continued to operate in the backwaters. Le Clos skinned the greatest Olympian in history four years ago, but it’s almost like it never happened. The swimming revolution was stillborn.

Let that not be the enduring legacy of the 2016 Olympics, which produced perhaps the greatest single performance in South African sports history.

Let us plan for more such shimmering moments. Let us plan (and pray) for more Wayde van Niekerks. – © Sunday Tribune

The boxing metaphor hung heavily over the Olympic Aquatics Stadium in Rio last week.

Chad Le Clos produced his boxing shtick with a fast flurry of hands in the call room away from the main arena, in full view of Michael Phelps, the greatest Olympian of them all.

As they launched into the 200m butterfly final, Le Clos came out swinging, looking for the early KO. But Phelps had the long game in mind and outlasted him down the stretch. Had it been a boxing match, Le Clos would have been battered and bruised along the ropes, the referee waving the action off.

A year ago, the Durban hero had predicted that Rio would be “Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier”, except he never said which one he’d be. Frazier won the first fight, the so-called Fight of the Century, but Ali won the next two, including the Thriller in Manila where Ali famously claimed it was the closest he had come to dying.

It was an epic rivalry shot through with bitterness. Ali taunted Frazier as a “gorilla” and “Uncle Tom”, two of the worst things you could label a black man. Ali didn’t care. He portrayed himself as the working man’s hero and Frazier as the subservient black man. Both images were misguided, but they fuelled the rivalry.

The animosity ran deep and endured for years. At the 1996 Olympics, when a tortured, trembling Ali lit the cauldron, Frazier remarked that he wished he had fallen in. “If I had the chance, I would have pushed him in.”

Phelps and Le Clos have similarly taken shots at one another, albeit without the crass undertones.

After the South African won the 100m title at the 2015 world championship – Phelps never competed on account of being charged with driving under the influence – he couldn’t help himself. “Michael Phelps has been talking about how slow the butterfly events have been recently. I just did a time he hasn’t done in four years. So he can keep quiet now,” he said tartly.

Phelps soon bettered Le Clos’ time. “There are a lot of things I could say, but I won’t,” said the American

Le Clos wasn’t done, snarkily remarking, “If I was as great as he was, I would conduct myself in a way children would be proud of.”

This was smack talk boxing promoter Don King would have been proud of.

The moment at the Rio pool reminded me of the time in 2007 when Rory Sabbatini pronounced that Tiger Woods was more beatable than ever. Given Woods’ stature in the game, it was a stupid thing to say.

Players on the tour agreed. “You don’t tug on Superman’s cape,” said one. Although Woods’ game has crumbled, his name is in the history books. Sabbatini, by comparison, is a mere footnote.

The problem with Le Clos’ boxing gig wasn’t that he did it. The trouble was that he never backed it up. If you’re as good as Ali and you taunt your rival and then predict the round you’ll KO him, and then do so, it’s okay to crank up the intimidation.

Like a player wearing golden boots or highlighted hair, no-one minds if you deliver. Usain Bolt revs it up before he dazzles. The point is that he dazzles.

Le Clos was clearly trying to gain a critical advantage. He won the gold in 2012 by five-hundredths of a second. Had he planted even a modicum of doubt in Phelps’ mind, it may have been a valuable tactic.

The trouble was that Phelps was in his fifth Olympics. Mind games he can deal with. Cocky rivals can be laid to waste.

His sneer, which launched a thousand memes, gave clear expression of his disapproval. But rather than jar him, it simply sharpened his senses and his response was emphatic.

As a quick-witted Wikipedia contributor cheekily wrote on Le Clos’ biographical entry: “He died at the hands of Michael Phelps, being literally blown out of the water by the greatest American since Abraham Lincoln.”

Le Clos is young enough, and good enough, to come back. But he’s learned a painful, valuable lesson from the greatest champion of them all.

There’s no shame in that. – © Sunday Tribune

SuperSport presenters Sizwe Mabena, Julia Stuart and Neil Andrews ham it up during the season launch on Thursday.

The Premier Soccer League continues to make great strides and SuperSport will match this with unrivalled coverage of the 2016/17 season, which begins on August 23.

Over 200 matches will be broadcast, including all cup competitions, starting with the quarterfinals in the MTN Supa8.

Football fans won’t have long to wait with 10 live PSL games on the broadcast schedule in week one alone.

With top-class analysts as standard and a wealth of magazine programming, SuperSport’s commitment to the PSL is total. Regular matches will offer visuals from 16 separate camera positions, while derbies and finals will have up to 30 cameras at each fixture, guaranteeing optimal coverage – all in High Definition.

“The PSL is one of SuperSport’s crown jewels,” said Gideon Khobane, CEO of SuperSport. “Games ignite local passions like nothing else and we revel in telling this great story week after week. Yet again, it is shaping as a great season ahead.”

What’s more, a select number of National First Division games will also be broadcast.

PSL BROADCAST SCHEDULE (MATCH DAYS ONE AND TWO)
Tuesday, August 23: Bidvest Wits vs Kaizer Chiefs (SS4, 7.30pm); Chippa United vs Free State Stars (SS Select, 7.30pm); Baroka FC vs Ajax Cape Town (SS9, 7.30pm).
Wednesday, August 24: Orlando Pirates vs Golden Arrows (SS4, 7.30pm); Platinum Stars vs SuperSport United (SS Select, 7.30pm); Bloemfontein Celtic vs Maritzburg United (SS9, 7.30pm).

THE PREMIER LEAGUE
If the hype and hysteria of the previous season is any indication, the looming English Premier League kick-off is bound to be just as captivating with all 380 matches of the new season to be broadcast in High Definition on SuperSport.

At least 300 of the matches will be broadcast live, confirming SuperSport as the destination of choice for viewers across South Africa. The breadth of the coverage, which includes first-class Premier League TV buildups with respected analysts, is unrivalled on the continent.

The season will bring an exciting new dimension with the Premier League scheduling Friday fixtures for the first time. These, too, will be part of SuperSport’s vast Premiership offering.

As ever, Saturdays will be firm football days: simultaneous 4pm kickoffs will see SuperSport carry up to three extra games at a time via SuperSport 3, 5, 6 and 7.

There will be little respite for Premiership fans – there are also five weeks in the season with mid-week games (Tuesdays and Wednesdays). Depending on channel availability, all 10 matches could be broadcast live, as occurred last season.

The season begins on Saturday and concludes on May 21, 2017.

BROADCAST SCHEDULE (WEEK ONE)
Saturday, August 13: Hull City vs Leicester City (SS3/SS11/Max 1, 1.30pm); Everton vs Tottenham Hotspur (SS3/SS11/Max 360, 4pm); Southampton vs Watford (Ch198/Max1, 4pm); Middlesbrough vs Stoke City (SS9, 4pm); Crystal Palace vs West Bromwich Albion (SS3, 5am Sunday, delayed); Burnley vs Swansea City (SS3, 7am Sunday, delayed); Manchester City vs Sunderland (SS3/SS11/Max1, 6.30pm).
Sunday, August 14: AFC Bournemouth vs Manchester United (SS3/SS11/Max1, 2pm); Arsenal vs Liverpool (SS3/SS11/Max1, 5pm).
Monday, August 15: Chelsea vs West Ham United (SS3/Max1, 9pm).

LA LIGA
In a major development for both SuperSport and fans of Spanish football, SuperSport 12 will be a dedicated 24-hour La Liga channel, so fans of teams like Real Madrid and Barcelona will have plenty to enthuse about.

This will go live after the Olympic Games.

Thanks to the Spanish league’s staggered kick-off times, up to 80 percent of the 380 matches will be live. The balance of games will be on either SS5 or SS7 on a live or delayed basis.

SuperSport also broadcast this week’s UEFA Super Cup (Real Madrid v Sevilla).

BROADCAST SCHEDULE (WEEK ONE)
Friday, August 19: Deportivo La Coruna vs Eibar (SS9/Max 3, 8.45PM).
Saturday, August 20: Barcelona vs Real Betis (Ch 198/Max3, 6.15pm); Granada vs Villarreal (Ch 198/Max3, 8.15pm); Sevilla vs Espanyol (Ch 198/Max3, 10.15pm).
Sunday, August 21: Sporting Gijin vs Athletic Bilbao (Ch 198/Max3, 6.15pm); Real Sociedad vs Real Madrid (SS3/Max3, 8.15pm); Atletico Madrid vs Alaves (SS3/Max3, 10.15pm).
Monday, August 22: Celta Vigo vs Leganes (SS3/SS12/Max3, 8pm); Valencia vs Las Palmas (SS3/SS12/Max3, 10pm).

AND ALL THE REST
The ever-popular, ever-thrilling Champions League kicks off next month and 100 of the 125 matches will be broadcast live on SuperSport from September 13 until the final next June.

The Europa League will also enjoy wall-to-wall coverage – 205 matches in all with at least 120 live.

Other great football properties on SuperSport include the FA Cup, the Capital ONE Cup, the Spanish Super Cup, Copa Del Rey final and the German Cup.

PLUS . . .
For fans unable to get to a television screen, the online offering will be substantial. Using the SuperSport website as well as the new SuperSport app, both of which offer extensive live streaming options, as well as video highlights, subscribers can enjoy extensive football action from around the globe.

The popular Catch Up service on the DStv Explora will also include highlights of all the major football fixtures.

Additionally, all the latest live scores, results and breaking news can be found at the supersport.com website, app and mobile versions.

South Africa’s Olympic show is on the road thanks to Cameron van der Burgh’s silver in the pool.

Today, the action continues with SA focus still on the water (swimming and rowing).