The staging of 64 matches across 10 stadiums in 9 cities attracted over 3 million spectators. The global television figures of 3.
Another important point is how much of the groundwork put down by the World Cup has been improved on in the last decade. Many of the developments laid out for the competition such as rail and transport interchanges and superior stadiums have continued to develop. A big test for the suitability of South Africa in being an Olympic host nation will come with the hosting of the Youth Olympic Games in The global showcase of hosting the Youth Games could pave the way towards the even greater benefits of eventually hosting the summer Olympics.
During the World Cup, South Africa saw its gross domestic product rise by 0. This certainly outweighs the cost of securing the tournament and building all the required infrastructure. There is good reason to believe that a similar story could be achieved with hosting the Olympic Games. The country made a bid for the Olympics back then hoping that the excellent response to the competition would enhance its chances. In the last decade, the arguments for South Africa being an excellent host nation have grown even stronger.
There is a strong case for South Africa hosting the Olympics. An important part of selecting Olympic hosts by the International Olympic Committee IOC is taking into account the greater worldwide benefits. The chance to change perceptions of Africa through a global event such as the Olympic Games is a positive motivation to address.
The fact is that South Africa is the best placed African nation to play host on the continent to such a massive undertaking. This was the best attended Games up to this time. South Africa was represented by 30 athletes. After the disappointing performance by Blanche Nash at the previous the selectors this time decided not to include any woman in the team. The outstanding sportsman at the Games was the phenomenal Finnish long distance runner, Paavo Nurmi. Having won three Gold Medals at the Games he added a further five Gold Medals to his collection during the Games.
For South Africa the Games was somewhat of a disappointment. This Games was also the last Games where rugby and tennis were part of the sports festival.
Tennis made a re-entry into the Games in , but rugby the man code has been out in the cold ever since. His retirement opened the door for women to for the first to participate in track and field events.
South Africa entered a team consisting of 10 athletes, 1 cyclist, 5 swimmers, 6 boxers, 1 wrestler, one rower and one yachtsman. For South Africa this Games was a historical one. All five swimmers were women and the versatile Marjorie Clarke was the first woman to represent South Africa in track and field.
The attention, though, was focussed on the women. The inclusion of Blanche Nash in the was regarded as tokenism. This time the women in the team had to perform to proof that they were worthy Olympians.
And it was the swimmers who made South Africa proud. Marjorie Clarke was only 19 years old at the Games. She finished a creditable fifth in the high jump. Her moment of glory was at this stage four years in the future. Click on image to enlarge. By the world was in the middle of an economic crisis. South Africa also only sent a small team of ten athletes.
In the team there were two women, the swimmer Jenny Maakal and the athlete Marjorie Clarke. On the way to Los Angeles Jenny Maakal told her team mates that she was sorry that she was to participate. She explained to them that her family did not have money to sponsor her trip. Her mother took a bond on their house to raise money for her trip. She said that while she was very excited at the time, she now realised that it was irresponsible for her to be on her way to Los Angeles.
She was sure that her mother would lose her house because of her. Dave Carstens. They then went back to Jenny and told her that both of them had lucrative contracts to become professional boxers. They were, though; prepared to postpone their professional careers to participate in a special fund raising tournament for her benefit. They kept their word and when they were back in South Africa they did just that.
This tournament raised enough money so that Jenny Makaal could repay her mother every penny she owed the bank. Laurie Stevens. In the meantime Jenny was entered for the meters and meters freestyle at the Games. In both items she reached the final and in the meters she finished third for a bronze medal. In the track and field events Marjorie Clarke participated in the 80 meter hurdles and the high jump.
In both events she was up against probably the greatest woman athlete of the 20th century. Her performances were creditable. In the 80 meter hurdles she finished third for a bronze medal and in the high jump fifth. This is the only way to describe the Games of in Berlin. In Germany the dictator Adolf Hitler was at the height of his power. At one stage there was a strong movement that the games should be moved away from Berlin.
Nevertheless this was the Games that will always be remembered for the prodigious performances of Jesse Owens. He won four gold medals - in the meters, the meters, the long jump and the 4 x meters relay. There is an Olympic myth about his performances. The story is told that Adolf Hitler refused to shake his hand when Owens won the meters.
According to this myth Hitler refused to shake his hand because Owens was black. The truth is that Hitler invited the winners on the first day of the athletics to his lodge. The International Olympic Committee requested that he should stop this. The problem was that at the Germans were extremely punctual in their presentation.
By inviting the winners to his lodge the programme ran behind time. The Games was brilliantly organised and several new inventions were introduced. This was the first Olympic torch run. It has since become part and parcel of every subsequent Games. For South Africa the Games was a disaster. The country won only one medal - a silver medal in boxing. For the first time since there was also no woman in the South African team.
For all the wrong reasons the best known member of the South African team was the boxer Robey Leibrandt. At the end of the Games Leibrandt joined the German army as a paratrooper.
Even before this, the Games for ran into obstacles. Tokyo was invited to host the 12th Olympic Games. When it became obvious in that war between Japan and China was imminent, the Games was moved to Helsinki.
It was only after Russia invaded Finland that it became obvious that there would be know Games in In the International Olympic Committee celebrated its 50th anniversary in Lausanne, Switzerland. This was supposed to be the year of the 13th Modern Olympic Games, but with the world at war there was no hope for such an event. These Games were supposed to have been hosted by London. By the times the Games began she was already 30 years old and the mother of two children.
It later transpired she was pregnant with her third time when she participated at the Games. Here she won the Gold Medal in the meters, the meters, the 80 meter hurdles and the 4 x meter relay. At the end of the 20th century she was voted the women athlete of the century. In London 4 athletes from 59 countries participated. This was the most athletes, as well as the most countries ever to have participated in an Olympic Games. Only one woman was included in the South African team of 34 athletes.
She was the sprinter Daphne Robb. As was the case in , the stars in the South African team were once again the boxers. Hunter was also adjudged to be the most scientific boxer at the Games. The Games at Helsinki saw the return to the Olympic arena of Russia. Germany and Japan was also for the first time since the war invited to re-enter the Olympic arena. The biggest contingent to ever to represent South Africa at an Olympic Games at that time was selected for the Games in Finland.
South Africa selected a team of no less that 65, including only five women. Esther Brand won the high jump three months before her thirtieth birthday. In the swimming pool the 16 year old schoolgirl from East London, Joan Harrison, won the Gold Medal in the meters backstroke. It would be another 44 years before South Africa won another Gold Medal in the pool. After been almost ignored for many years, these two Gold Medals were an Olympic triumph for all South African women.
In a modern Olympic Games was for the first time hosted in the Southern Hemisphere. It was also for the first time obvious that the Olympic Games would in the future be used by countries to promote their political agendas. Iraq, Egypt and Iran pulled out because of the so-called Suez crises.
Africa wanted the European colonial powers to leave the continent. For the South African athletes the Games was a major disaster. A country used to bringing back Gold Medals from an Olympic Games, this time won four bronze medals.
The track and field manager and coach, Mr S P Barkhuizen, claimed in his report at the end of the Games that a total lack of discipline and dedication on the part of the athletes resulted in their failure in competition. Over the years South Africa developed a tradition to select their sport teams from the white minority of the population only. Up to this stage there were no laws demanding this. It was just the way it was done.
Among white South Africans there were first disbelieve and then anger that the international world would not accept this situation. A motion was tabled to expel South Africa from the Olympic movement.
South Africa aligned itself behind the leaders of the Western World. There was never any doubt, outside South Africa, that a practise of racial discrimination in sport was not justifiable and immoral. The Western World, though, hesitated to turn its back on South Africa.
South Africa was looked upon as the country to defend the sea route around the tip of Africa. The country also produced minerals valuable to Western economy and defence systems. Many seats were empty in the games.
Clearly this is a risk any host nation would take; the feel good factor comes from the national team doing well, not simply hosting the games. Unlike a World Cup, which spreads the benefits more evenly, an Olympic games is focused on one city, generally one which is a major international city. It is dubious that there would be such big benefits for the continent. South Africa is seen by some in the outside world as somewhat aloof from the rest of Africa due to its particular history, its history of apartheid being rather different from the normal course of African decolonisation.
It is doubtful that the World Cup boosted perceptions of the entire continent. Some Olympic events are held outside the main city.
The football tournament uses venues across other cities in the London games, Coventry, Cardiff and Manchester were amongst the cities hosting matches , and, being landlocked, Johannesburg would have to host the sailing at another venue. Sailing being held in another city is not unusual, in the sailing was held in Weymouth and in in Qingdao. The national morale boost typically permeates far wider than just the host city, including the impact in favour of a more sporting culture in the country.
The Olympic games is an expensive thing to host. This cost largely falls on the taxpayer. It is too expensive to host for rich countries as it is — South Africa has a large problem with wealth inequality as it is, and is below the world average GDP per capita [3].
Everything costs money.
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