OLYMPIC GAMES: ABOUT 10 OFFICIALS, 3 ATHLETES

MBABANE – Eswatini’s ‘bloated’ delegation for the Olympic Games has raised eyebrows, mainly on social media platforms.

The delegation was captured this past Friday in France, during the grand opening event of the 2024 Olympic Games. The historic and dazzling event had only two Eswatini athletes, but over nine officials. Hayley Hoy and Chadd Ning were among the about 6 800 athletes. Sprinter Sibusiso ‘Swazi Bolt’ Matsenjwa was not part of the ceremony, as he jetted in Paris yesterday.

Crashing

He will be the only athlete who will attend the closing event as Hoy and Ning are expected back home on August 5, after crashing out on Saturday. Eswatini seems to be among some other countries who have officials accompanying a small Olympics team. There are four technical officials. Those who are part of the technical team were the Chef de Mission Zakhele Dlamini, who is the Eswatini Olympic and Commonwealth Games Association (EOCGA) Vice President and Athletics Eswatini (AE) President. Others were OlympAfrica Centre Director Thoba Mazibuko, who is the Team Manager. Charmaine Rudd and Lungi Khanya were also there, as they are the team’s physiotherapist and psychologist, respectively.  Notably is that there is no local coach who is part of the delegation.  EOCGA stated, during the squad announcement, that the athletes had international coaches who will meet them at the Olympics.

The other officials who were also at the opening ceremony are the Minister of Sports, Culture and Youth Affairs Bongani Nzima, EOCGA President Adam ‘Bomber’ Mthethwa, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Maxwell Jele and the latter’s Eswatini Sports and Recreation Council (ESRC) counterpart Darius Dlomo.  EOCGA CEO said the local team was predominantly based on the guidelines set out by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), International Sports Federations, as well the requirements of the host country. Jele said this in terms of the team size and composition.

M,isconception

“It is a misconception, therefore, that the team consists of more officials than athletes. The context needs to be understood. In our case, we relatively have a modest number of officials compared to other countries, and they all have an important role to play in the performance of the athletes,” he stressed.  He made reference to computerised platform known as the Team Size Calculator (TSC), designed by the IOC, which automatically generates the team size and distribution, based on the number of athletes that have qualified for the games.

“In the case of Eswatini, we were granted three athletes’ slots through the universality route. The TSC then automatically generated the slots and distribution for the athletes’ support staff,” he said.  He made it clear that the EOCGA Board’s decision in the selection process was guided by policies and systems spelt out in the Olympic Charter. He said it must be appreciated that the trio are elite athletes who have various support requirements in their quest to produce the best results.Jele further said the costs of the Olympic Games were mainly catered for by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). He said this when asked about the total expenditure for Team Eswatini.  He said, however, there were a few areas where government support was necessary.

Support

“In the case of Team Eswatini, the government, through the Sports Council, provided budgetary support worth E450 000. This went towards expenses such as air tickets, team uniform, competition attire, insurance, visa application costs and allowances for the team,” he said.  He said they believed that the budget was sufficient to cater for the needs of the team based on the above-stated cost items. He said allowances for the team were an international standard practice and regulated by a policy. Worth noting is that Zimbabwe is also said to have sparked controversy with 67 officials accompanying eight athletes on the day. Barrons News says there was an uproar online allegedly on the waste of public funds on many technical officials and dignitaries.

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