After just a couple of days of the 2012 Olympics, it has become clear that maybe Sascoc were right in meddling in the medal dreams of South African Games hopefuls and making difficult to earn the trip to London was not a bad thing.
It has taken that long for many of the Team South Africa athletes to discover just how tough it is to compete on the big stage, and for many of those who have found the going the toughest are those that qualified via Africa.
As the competitors come out of the first weekend of competition, Banyana Banyana have played two and lost two and a trip home is a certainty; boxer Ayabonga Sonjica is already on his way home; archer Karen Hultzer finished close to the bottom quarter of her qualification event and it is hard to see her getting through more than a round or two of the knockout stages; and both badminton pairings are struggling and look unlikely to get beyond the round-robin part of their competition. All were in London after qualifying via continental routes.
Sascoc made it clear after the 2008 Games in Beijing that there was no silver lining to bringing home just one medal and they put in place selection policies which would ensure more medals in London.
Suddenly soft qualifying options, like a weak continental tournament, were, in most cases, not allowed and international rankings were the main criteria for selection.
With a long-term view, Sascoc also made a proviso that Rio 2016 prospects could take the easier continental route if it meant helping get medals in four year time.
Sascoc was so excited about the plan that President Gideon Sam immediately declared South Africa was aiming for 12 medals in 2012.
The plan was not perfect and the prediction is probably going to turn out to be wildly optimistic, but in some cases it has worked well.
The women’s and men’s hockey teams are without doubt better for having to fight their way to the Olympic Games via international competition. A quick look at the personal best times for swimmers and athletes shows that a few have raised their game with a host of personal bests posted while attempting to qualify.
But not all sports can enforce the rule.
Football qualification is only through continental tournaments and in boxing the pugilists would have had to finish in the top 10 of the world champs, so a one-rule-fits-all approach was never going to work.
There will also be failures among those who had to qualify via international competition – swimmers and runners who qualify and then fail at the Games, but that is a fact of sporting life and there is no way any team will ever be selected to return with a 100 percent success rate.
Sascoc may have ended the dreams of a few sportsmen with their harsh criteria and there is a question mark about whether a small elite team of winners does enough to promote the aspirations of young sportsmen.
But the reality is that the inexperienced competitors who are on an early plane home will be contemplating whether more international competition would have helped them. – The Mercury