South African sport is at the crossroads following the country’s best medal haul since readmission, with 10 medals garnered at the Rio Olympic Games.
The scary part is that South African sport is not performing to its full potential and if sport in the country is to continue on an upward curve, more will have to be done to develop and nurture future talent.
Athletics returned with its best haul since Barcelona 1992, contributing four medals - two gold and two silver - to the total tally while 10 athletes made it into finals in Rio.
This performance came in spite of administrative turmoil for half of the four year-cycle between London 2012 and the Rio Games.
Swimming has done nothing to build on the success from London 2012, failing to qualify a single woman in the pool while they rely on two swimmers for their success. Chad le Clos and Cameron van der Burgh did well to claim podium places four years after striking gold in London.
South African swimming will have to ask itself what it will be without Le Clos and Van der Burgh and how to produce more world-class athletes.
These sporting codes will do well to speak to national rowing coach Roger Barrow to find out the secret to his success at the Games.
The sport did not only qualify a record five boats for the Olympic Games but also got all of them into finals on the Rodrigo de Freitas lagoon.
Barrow achieved this despite limited funding, and a small pool of rowers at his disposal, adding the men’s pair silver medal for good measure.
While athletics and swimming have some lessons to learn from Barrow, Rowing South Africa have to do everything in their power to keep the architect of their success involved.
The reality is that Barrow operates as the heart and soul of the rowing squad, spending weeks on end away from his young family.
It is often a relentless slog for Barrow as he needs to negotiate for funds, equipment and training venues for his rowers to produce their magic.
Whatever Barrow wants, he should get as he has proven his ability to run a successful programme with limited resources.
It would be a travesty if the sport should lose Barrow due to a lack of proper support from the rowing federation or the SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc).
Sascoc has been one of the main funders to the elite rowing squad and success will be dependent on more sustained support.
Although the rowers are not exactly living on the breadline, they often have to rely on family for extra support.
The rowers learned the hard way that an Olympic gold medal does not guarantee increased sponsorship or interest from corporates. Barrow and his rowers are the personification of excellence, and it makes sense for big business to align itself with such a dedicated group of people.
The same can be said about triathlon, which managed to qualify four athletes for Rio and returned with their best result at the Games - Henri Schoeman winning bronze and Richard Murray finishing fourth.
While triathlon does not have the same system as Barrow, it does go out of its way to fund the top athletes with the little money it has at its disposal.
These two sports may be far removed from the mainstream but have performed well above their limits. - Saturday Star