La Agenda Uruguay en Red

This section presents the findings from the second semi-structured interview conducted with the participant from Swaziland. The section commences with a brief overview of the country’s participation in Olympic Games, which is then followed by the findings obtained from the investigation.

4.4.3.1 Brief overview of participation in the Olympic Games

Swaziland’s history in the Olympics goes as far back as 1968 when it gained independence, with the establishment of the Commonwealth Games Association

which was later transformed to the Swaziland Olympic and Commonwealth Games Association (SOCGA). However, the country’s first participation in the Olympics was in the 1972 Munich summer Games after it had become officially recognised as members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Speaking on the displeasure with the country’s NOC’s poor representation in the Olympics, D02 made the following statements:

“We had only two athletes represent us in our first Olympic appearance in Munich and since then our main aim has always been to increase our participation. In London we only had three athletes representing our country, In Beijing in 2008 we had four and I think in Athens 2004 we had three or so. The highest number of athletes that have ever represented us in an Olympic Games is 11 and that was in the 80’s. So you can see that we haven’t really fared too well considering where we started”.

On a positive note however, D02 maintained that the country’s consistency in participating in the Olympics was a sign of growth. These were her remarks:

“…We are a very small country like you know, so you don’t expect the size of our participation or level of success in the Olympic Games to equal that of maybe South Africa or Nigeria or Egypt. These countries have bigger capacities than us and have even been competing longer than we have so it wont be fair to measure our success as a country or as an NOC, with the same standards. Despite the constraint in the size of our participation in recent times, London 2012 was our ninth appearance in the Summer Olympics since our first appearance and we deserve credit for this. We have been at every single Olympic Games since 1972 (except in Montreal 1976 and Moscow 1980 due to the African and the United States boycott). This is a massive achievement to us and we want to be able to, at least participate in every Olympics to stand a chance of winning a medal. We have never won any medal before in the Olympics but it is only when you participate you stand a chance of winning”.

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4.4.3.2 Performance in the London 2012 Olympics and challenges

It was again pertinent to know what the goals and objectives of the NOC were for the London Olympics to secure a better understanding of their level of performance at the Games, and their view of success. When asked about this, D02 had this to say:

“…Our main goal is to qualify our athletes to participate. Our philosophy is that ‘you only stand the chance of winning a race when you’re competing in it’. So we always try to be present at the Olympics. Since we know we cant afford to send athletes in all the disciplines, we only try to have representation in our strong areas which are in track and field and in swimming. For London, we only managed to qualify our athletes by wild card entries but that did not mean we weren’t going with the intention of winning medals. Of course you saw one of our athletes in Swimming, Luke Hall, who also competed in Beijing in 2008, finish 4th in his heat. So despite the means in which we qualified, we still put in the hard work…the athletes did too, to try and get results in London, and we were not very far of from achieving that”.

The participant also revealed that the NOC had hoped to at least win a medal in the London Olympic Games, particularly in the swimming category. Furthermore, the participant revealed that another of its NOC’s expectation from the London Olympics was for its athletes to have the opportunity of gaining sporting experience in a vibrant atmosphere. D02 made the following statements:

“…For us, it was about the exposure and availing the athletes the opportunity to gain the experience in a more competitive environment with world-class facilities. So experience was another thing we were hoping to achieve in London. Our delegation to London was quite small so we tried to keep our objectives as realistic as possible. We wanted to at least win a medal because we have never won any before. We had hopes in the swimming category. Apart from our medal hopes, we expected a vibrant atmosphere in London. We wanted to see a very smooth Olympic Games. We wanted to see that everything was up to standard…the planning, the execution, everything! Because for us, we saw it as an opportunity to see and learn how things are to be done right. This has been one of the biggest challenges in Africa…doing things right! So it is very important to travel out and see these things for

yourself and there couldn’t have been a better opportunity to do this than in an Olympics”.

Speaking conclusively on the aim of the NOC in participating in the Olympics, D02 pointed out that the key thing for their NOC was to participate and to represent their country. While it was agreed that it it also important to win medals, D02 maintained that they were somewhat content with constantly participating in the Games as it avails them the opportunity to present the image of the country to the rest of the world. Her comments were as follows:

“…Swaziland is a country of less than 1.5 million people and participating in the Olympics is a big thing for us. I’m not saying we don’t desire to win medals, but the key thing for us is the fact that we participate at these events. It sells the name of our country. Marching with our flag alongside many other countries of World on the opening ceremony of the Olympics is a thing of pride and it is a good medium to inform the international community about our country. You don’t get such a platform if you don’t qualify to be in the Olympics. We were fortunate to get the wildcard entries to be in London (A wildcard entry is a chance given to a country or athlete to compete in a particular sports despite failure to qualify through the normal qualification standards) but we were still optimistic about flying the flag of our country high in the Games. It’s always a thing of pride to be in the Olympics”.

The participant was then asked to provide some depth as to how much of its NOC’s objectives were achieved in the London Olympics. In responding to this, D02 said this:

“For us as an NOC, we kept our expectations very simple realistic. We only had three athletes competing in the Games so our hope on winning anything was on them. We thought we had a chance of winning a medal, especially in swimming. To have come back with nothing means we still have a lot to do. Like I mentioned earlier, we were hoping to break the jinx of not winning any medal ever in the Olympics. Well, I guess it wasn’t meant to be in London”.

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On a brighter note, D02 claimed all its other objectives were achieved apart from their poor performance in the Games, which led to their inability to win any medals. This was expressed in following comments:

“The atmosphere was great! I have never experienced such an exciting Olympics as I did in London. Though we didn’t win anything, we saw our participation as an achievement because nobody can take away the experience we have gained. For the athletes, being in London and competing alongside other great athletes from all over the world, using world-class facilities, in a world-class environment was a massive boost to their athletic careers. So these are intangible achievements that you cannot take from us. When you talk about performance in the Olympics, people always seem to get carried away talking about the tangible benefits such as the medals, but the intangible benefits such as the lessons you learn are also equally very important. These are sometimes lesson you can apply to everyday life. So talking about meeting our expectation, we didn’t win any medals…yes, but we know we have presented our country to world. We take pride in our participation and we know that someday the medal will surely come. Who saw Gabon or Botswana winning a medal in London? So we believe everybody has a chance of winning”.

The participant was asked to highlight some of the challenges that led to this outcome. In responding, the participants, like most of the other participants in the study, identified funding as one of its major challenges. This was what D02 had to say:

“The big issue we have is the lack of financial power. It all comes down to funding at the end of the day. No matter how many talents your country may have, if you haven’t got the funding part, there is only so much you can achieve. If you don’t have the funds to build up standard and world-class facilities for your athletes to use, how do you expect to get world-class performances from the athletes? The government funds our participation in the Olympics and Commonwealth Games and this funding is very limited. Our country like every other country has its priorities. There are other equally important areas of the economy that require urgent government attention such

as health-care, unemployment and so on. We can only work with what we have”.

Though D02 acknowledged that funds made available to the NOC were limited, the participant also revealed that some of the issues responsible for this are lack of effective management, widespread corruption in society, mis-management of funds and a lack of accountability by the government. The following remarks were made to support this view:

“…I still believe that we can achieve more if things are properly managed. The issues of effective management, accountability and corruption are very big issues in this part of the world (Africa). The government is responsible for distributing these resources. For example, if $50 is allocated to preparing the athletes for the Olympics, you may end up receiving only half of that and no one will explain where the other half has disappeared to. There’s never any accountability. So, yes we know there are other priorities, yes we know that the resources are limited, but how well have we utilized the little we have?”

Another issue that was raised is the issue of poor planning. The participant suggested that one of the main causes of poor performance in the Olympics was poor planning. D02 noted that plans within the NOC are often left late and are usually short term plans rather than long term. This point was buttressed in the following comments:

“…Nobody thinks about the future. All we think of is today. Look at countries that do well in the Olympics, they think well ahead and they make their plans accordingly. Have we started to make plans about Rio (2016) or even the Olympics after that (Tokyo, 2020)? But you’ll be surprised that there are some countries that have planned as far ahead as the 2028 Olympics even though the host city is yet to be known. We only tend to see planning as booking the accommodation, transportation and that kind of stuff and that’s why we (the government) don’t take things seriously. But the real planning to participate involves things like, putting the sporting infrastructure and facilities in place that meet the standards of what is out there, grooming the athletes, identifying new talents through development programmes…these things take a long time to achieve and without the right planning you cannot achieve this. We really

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minute. When this is the case, then you don’t have the justification to fault the athletes. They can only perform when they have the right environment and support”.

In an attempt to probe further on the causes of the NOC’s poor performance in the London Olympics, the participant was asked if the project management of the London Olympic Games and their relationship with LOCOG had any impact on the performance of their NOC. In responding to this, D02 admitted that there were no concerns whatsoever as expressed in the following statements:

“In terms of our performance, I don’t think that had anything to do with the project management of the Games or LOCOG…they were excellent…Our inability to win medals was not as a result of the project management of the Games but as a result of the points I mentioned earlier. We had the necessary support we needed from LOCOG and there was nothing more to ask for”.

Furthermore, the participant was again asked if the IOC or any of its decisions affected the performance of their NOC. D02 responded in the negative. However, this was what the participant had to say:

“…I think the IOC can look into giving smaller countries the opportunity to have more athletes participating across a wider variety of sports. You stand a better chance of winning when you have more athletes participating. The wildcard system is a good thing because we benefited from it in London, but more can be done to give the smaller countries equal opportunities to compete”.

4.4.3.3 Strategies for addressing challenges/improving performance

In this section of questions, the participant was asked to highlight the measures necessary to address the issues raised, which led to the poor performance of their NOC in the Olympics. D02, in responding to this, noted that the solutions to the issues raised all bothered around effective planning. Her comments on this were as follows:

“The key thing is planning. We must start to think ahead like other countries do. It is only when you think ahead that you have the vision. You’ve got to have the vision! Planning ahead brings about the building of infrastructure

and the facilities needed to train athletes. For instance, as a result of this awareness of the importance of planning for competitions, the government has now decided on putting in 20m pools in some parts of the country. Because in order to be able to compete in these events, you need to train in facilities of the same standard as what you compete in. Think about it this way, if you have the facilities at home in your country, the athletes won’t need to go elsewhere to train, which also has its own cost implication. Sometimes these athletes end up staying abroad and competing for other countries. This is the main cause of the talent drain in sports today. The environment must be right and how do you make it right…by having the right infrastructure and support system. Planning also brings about putting the right institutions in place to, first of all identify these talents, then develop them. So for me, having the vision and planning ahead are the key things we must imbibe in order to turn the table around”.