Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 144, August 2021 Aug 2021 | Page 40

OUT OF THE BOX out of the box by NORRIE WILLIAMSON

OUT OF THE BOX out of the box by NORRIE WILLIAMSON

Meaningful

Measurement Required

The dust is settling on Tokyo ’ s Olympic Games and countries are celebrating their new medallists and victories , but in South Africa , our disappointing haul of just three medals is the main talking point , and points to the need for a new way of measuring our sporting progress and success .

The ‘ unlikely ’ games of Tokyo held us in awe over a two-week period involving a vast array of different sports , including some new ones to the Olympic stage . Who knew that climbing could produce so many ‘ cliff-hanging ’ moments , or be so fast ? Not to mention skateboarding , where 13-year-olds seemed to play their way through the competition while 46-year-old South African Dallas Oberholzer realised his Olympic dream , and Bianca Buitendag surprised South Africa with silver surfing success .

Traditionally , performance at the Olympics is evaluated on the medal table which shows USA ( 113 medals ), China ( 88 ), Japan ( 58 ), UK ( 65 ) and the Russian Olympic Committee ( 71 , but less golds than the UK ) as the top five medal-earners , and South Africa a lowly 52nd with its three medals . However , this relatively lacklustre outcome does not do justice to the overall performance of the team , but the antiquated use of a medal table as sole measure is more related to political bragging rights than sports performance . It is no coincidence that administrators and politicians are drawn to medal-winners like two opposing magnets !
Not the Full Picture
The medal table doesn ’ t reflect anything of the true story , yet this is where sporting authority place their emphasis . For example , Tatjana Schoenmaker ’ s swimming gold in the 200m breaststroke and silver in the 100m breaststroke do not speak to her world record or personal bests , nor does the table recognise all the season bests , personal bests , national records , area records or world records by the world ’ s athletes . Those are successes , even if they end up being left out of the finals and do not feature on the medal table .
Another column in this issue reviews TeamSA ’ s apparently disappointing athletics performance in Tokyo in more detail – no medals after pre-Games hopes of at least one or two , given athletes ’ form and the fact that we won four athletics medals in Rio in 2016 – so I won ’ t go too much into that here , but there other disappointments , notably with rugby 7 ’ s and the rowers . Many had predicted medals there , too , but if sport was always predictable , it wouldn ’ t have a following .
Almost insultingly several better performers were of South African heritage , such as Zain Weir , who finished fifth in the shot put in the colours of Italy , or Rory Sabbatini , who won silver in the golf for Slovakia . Such nationality moves often reflect the frustration of the athletes in need of more support in their original country , and administrators should seen this as writing on the wall .
Returning to the medal table , the Dutch gold in men ’ s hockey doesn ’ t speak to South Africa ’ s amateur players taking on the nine teams filled with professional players in the 12-nation competition , nor our comparable standing in water polo , where our whitewashing was perhaps less surprising , when put in context .
The eye-catching medals for the Tokyo Olympics should not be the only measure of success at the Games
The medal table also doesn ’ t speak to a country ’ s population , nor its financial status , sporting facilities or government support ( or lack thereof ). Another factor it misses is the ease of comparable competition in preparation – athletes from African countries face intercontinental travel to obtain world class competition , and said travel is often required simply to qualify . Yet the medal table is how national teams are judged , and anything out of the top three – gold , silver or bronze – counts for zero .
Being the Best We Can Be
Of course , all competitive athletes want to do better with their next performance , but this challenge
Images : iStock & courtesy Tokyo2020 . org
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