Heroes’ welcome: Olympic winners hailed on return
South Africa’s Olympic team received a frenzied welcome from fans when they landed at the OR Tambo International Airport on Tuesday.
Sports Minister Gayton McKenzie was in attendance, along with a cheering crowd of just over 1 000 joyous South Africans with their vuvuzelas, who welcomed back gold medallist Tatjana Smith and the rest of the team who made the nation proud at Paris 2024.
The 27-year-old swimmer was Team South Africa’s top achiever, winning the gold and silver medal in the 100m and 200m breaststroke races respectively, to become the nation’s most decorated Olympian with four medals.
A proud fan who took a selfie with Smith handed the retiring swimming star a R100 note for her performance in Paris, saying ”I wish I could give you more”.
But it was Olympic silver medallist Bayanda Walaza who stole the show.
The 18-year-old was clearly the biggest drawcard as huge numbers of school children gathered at the airport to catch a glimpse of the sprinter.
The Pretoria schoolboy will soon be turning his attention to his matric prelims, but first, he was more than happy to soak up the electric atmosphere, and give his adoring fans as much attention as he could afford.
Learners from Curro School in Pretoria, where Walaza is in Grade 12, proudly wore their school attire as they cheered for him.
Walaza was part of the men’s 4x100m relay team which claimed silver in Paris, alongside Akani Simbine, Shaun Maswanganyi and Bradley Nkoana.
Minister McKenzie said South Africa was very proud of Team SA’s impressive six-medal haul, double their tally from the Tokyo Olympics.
McKenzie went on to say that he intended to send double the number of athletes to the next Summer Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028.
No athlete would have to be put in the position again of complaining about a lack of funding under his watch, he declared.
In addition to Smith and the relay team’s achievements, Jo-Ane van Dyk achieved a silver medal in the women’s javelin event, Alan Hatherly won bronze in the men’s mountain bike cross-country, while the rugby sevens team clinched the final bronze medal for the country.
The South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) had announced financial incentives for the country’s athletes prior to the Games.
Athletes who achieved gold will receive R400 000 and their coach R100 000.
The silver medallists will receive R200 000 for individual events (coaches get R50K), and R75 000 per athlete for team events (the coach also gets R75K).
A bronze medal earned the athlete R75 000 for individual events (the coach gets R25K) while the Rugby Sevens Team members and their coach will each receive R50K.
South Africa finished in 44th place on the medals table.
michael.sherman@iol.co.za