Sport ministry tells federations not to lift Olympic qualifying standards

Deputy sport minister Peace Mabu on Saturday told national federations not to lift qualifying standards for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, saying they were serious about sports minister Gayton McKenzie’s plan to get 300 competitors to the next Games.

Mabu’s call at the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) AGM in Johannesburg was a major turn-around after the previous two ministers, Zizi Kodwa and Nathi Mthethwa, had called for smaller Olympic teams, presumably to limit costs.

But the ministry’s new plan, dubbed Project 300, dovetails with the bulk of sports bodies that in 2019 voted against Sascoc’s stringent qualifying standards that had excluded several codes from Rio 2016.

Team South Africa totalled 149 at Paris 2024 and 179 at Tokyo 2020.

“Our plan to take 300 athletes to LA will take serious resources,” Mabu said. “In planning for Project 300 we are concerned we have not been taking as many athletes [as possible] … We would like to … take every athlete who qualifies and we do not create our own internal qualifying criteria.”

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