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
40 ISSUE 144 AUGUST 2021 / www . modernathlete . co . za