Cape Town - The South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) received a lashing in Parliament on Wednesday as MPs demanded an explanation for the “ninja turtle” tracksuits worn by South Africa’s Olympic athletes.
Sascoc briefed the Portfolio Committee on Sport and Recreation about how Team SA fared at the recent Olympic Games.
Sport and Recreation South Africa (SRSA) director general Alec Moemi defended the tracksuits, saying there would’ve been an outcry over wasted money if South Africa had commissioned a famous designer to produce the tracksuits, as other countries did.
Moemi said the US commissioned Ralph Lauren to design its apparel, while Cuba had Christian Louboutin, Italy had Giorgio Armani and the UK had Stella McCartney.
“If we had commissioned David Tlali to design our outfits, there would be an outcry here in South Africa,” Moemi said. “There isn’t money for that.”
He said outfitters such as Nike and Puma had been approached, but did not commit to the project, and so the contract was awarded to Chinese manufacturer 361 Degrees, which will sponsor all Team SA’s attire until 2020.
“Despite all these top brands, the most respectable fashion magazines and sport channels globally still voted South Africa’s outfit as number one.
“And it wasn’t just Fox Sport; it was Huffington Post and American GQ magazine,” Moemi said. “Unfortunately (here in South Africa) the 361 tracksuits are being characterised as ninja tracksuits.”
Sascoc president Gideon Sam said he was pleased with the support provided to long jump silver medallist Luvo Manyonga to help him battle with tik addiction.
“We took him out of Paarl, sent him to high performance (in Pretoria), kept him under wraps there, sometimes he slipped out of that cordon, but that’s Luvo - he’s young.”
Sam said Manyonga delivered on his promise.He said a trust had been set up with Manyonga’s sister to manage the athlete’s money.
Moemi and Sam agreed that Sascoc couldn’t send every athlete who qualified to the Olympics. Moemi said it was a bad investment to send a large team that only brought home a handful of medals. “We can’t send everyone who qualifies. We must look at medal contenders.”
For the Olympics, Sascoc sent a team of 137 athletes who brought back 10 medals, two of which were gold. Sascoc sent 45 athletes to the Paralympics, and they brought home 17 medals, including seven golds.
Cape Argus