Ramatsiyi Moholoa

Ramatsiyi Moholoa

When you point a finger at somebody for whatever reasons, always remember that there are three pointing at you.

I could not help but laugh when Team South Africa top brass at the Beijing Olympics decided to blame politicians for the dismal performance in China.

Hajera Kajee, the team's chef de mission did not mention names in her outburst this week, but it goes without saying she was referring to Butana Komphela.

Komphela, chairman of Parliament's portfolio committee on sport and recreation, has been at loggerheads with Sascoc in the build-up to the Olympics over lack of transformation.

The concerns raised by Komphela are now beginning to haunt Sascoc as the team is still to win a medal in Beijing to date.

We have just over 200 team members in China, but are failing to match Zimbabwean golden girl Kirsty Coventry, who has bagged four medals - one gold and three silver.

Therefore it is balderdash for Kajee and company to come up with lousy excuses, Sascoc must just accept the blame.

Countries like China, Russia, the United States, Kenya, Ethiopia, Qatar and Australia start preparing for the Olympics four to six years before the event.

Yours truly has been lucky to have covered three consecutive biennial World Student Games editions where the usual superpowers of sports are well represented.

Those countries invest a lot of money in their college and university sports, using the World Student Games to prepare their athletes for the Olympics.

We all know that Sascoc is in a serious financial crisis because they could not get sponsorship deals for the Beijing Olympics. It is one of the reasons our team was as ill-prepared as it is for the Games.

Some athletes had to dig deep into their pockets in their preparations. One such athlete is Hendrick Ramaala, who is paying for his training camp in Albuquerque. Scandalous, to say the least.