Sino-Nam collabo for Olympic Gold

By: Severius Majiedt

SOUTH Africa is in Olympic heaven because of their success at the London Games, and that all in the water.

On land it was a totally different story. They just could not get to that competitive level. The promise of free lotto money to the South African athlete who wins a medal was motivation enough but I guess the Chinese and Americans were just too good for them to claim the prize.
Unfortunately for us Namibia had won no medal. Maybe because we had no lotto induced inspiration. We only handed out the medals this time around. Yes, Frank(ie) Fredericks – he is a grownup now – made us proud again at the Olympics. This time not for getting a medal but for giving away the medals at the medal ceremonies.
Oh, he made us proud with those four silver medals that he won back in the days. It seems we will have to wait until his children start running before the sport limelight can be on Namibia again.
The question is, do we really want to wait that long? We all saw how great the Chinese were at the Games in London. Their only problem is on the track, they just can’t run yet, but I’m sure that their scientists are working on a genetic formula to produce an Asian–Lee Bolt, as fast as a GWM Bakkie.
Their gymnasts were great, they like rubber, can bend and twist in any direction and they always land on their feet like cats. Their divers dive like dolphins and it is gold all the way.
I am of the opinion that outside China the greatest concentration of Chinese people are found in Namibia. Don’t you think that if these Namibian Chinese start with their training now, that they can be ready for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, Brazil?
We can focus on items like that Baster game which is a mix between tennis and volleyball, badminton. No African country competes in badminton although that sport had so many cheating possibilities, so we will qualify easily because there will be little competition for our skills. We can become a gymnastic force if we can give all the retired gymnasts of China building tenders and Namibian citizenship. I see it as an investment in sport and to market us on the international stage.
If we start to prepare for Rio 2016 early enough and shift our focus from athletics to other codes, then we will have a chance to win a medal. In Namibia we only run if we are chased by botsotsos, then not even Bolt can beat us.
So unless the Olympics allow Dolam botsotsosto chase our athletes, we must stop sending runners to the Games. If we can concentrate on boxing again, because we are fighters, I’m sure that we have a few ‘Hitmans’ out there that can fight for Olympic gold.
I am very optimistic for our chances for future Olympic Games. I am sure that we can win the most medals in Africa, although our winners will not look like your regular Africans but will sport East Asian features. I hope that our Government will have the Lotto in place by that time, so that we can also give incentives to our athletes to encourage them to bring us medals.
There must be a Home Affairs official on the sporting body to ensure the smooth organising of official papers for our Namibian Chinese athletes. Their building tenders must be close to their training facilities so that they can focus on their training.
We must teach them the national anthem early enough, just in case they sing the Chinese national anthem on the medal podium under Namibian colours.

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