The South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) has reportedly said that it has no money to pay bonuses or any other prize to the country’s only two medallists, Tatjana Schoenmaker and Bianca Buitendag.
This is in contrast to prizes awarded after the last Olympic Games, with bronze medallists being awarded R80 000 by SASCOC, silver medallists R200 000, and gold medallists R500 000.
Schoenmaker won silver in the 100m women’s breaststroke and gold in the 200m event while Buitendag won silver in the inaugural surfing event.
The three medals South Africa won are South Africa’s worst return since Beijing in 2008, when it won only one silver medal, and a disappointing result after the last Games in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, when ten medals were won.
It is also the first time in all the Games when South Africa has competed that our male athletes failed to win a medal.
The President of SASCOC, Brad Hendricks, said that the organisation was working with ‘partners’ to try to resolve the situation.
In the meantime there have been a number of attempts to crowdfund monetary prizes for the two athletes, including one started by former Springbok wing, Bryan Habana.