Gayton McKenzie says business is keen on ‘Project 300’ for 2028 Olympics

Inductees to the South African Hall of Fame on stage at Montecasino on Thursday night.
Inductees to the South African Hall of Fame on stage at Montecasino on Thursday night.
Image: SUPPLIED

Sport, arts and culture minister Gayton McKenzie on Thursday night said he had buy-in from corporates for what he called Project 300, his plan to get 300 athletes to the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.

McKenzie was talking at the South African Hall of Fame’s induction banquet at Montecasino in Sandton for the bulk of the country’s Olympic medallists since readmission. 

“We, for the next four years before [Los Angeles 2028], are going to start Project 300. We are going to take it outside government because I’m scared I’m going to be reshuffled before then,” he said to much laughter.

McKenzie’s ambitious target is based on the fact that New Zealand sent a team of similar size to South Africa’s to the Paris Olympics.

The 195 Kiwi competitors won 20 medals, including 10 gold, compared to South Africa’s 149 representatives who claimed six medals, featuring one gold.

“We are starting Project 300 because it’s a disgrace that you have a country with five million people taking 150 athletes to the Olympics while we have 60-million and we’re taking the same amount of athletes to the Olympics.

“Sascoc [the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee] has done well this time. They’ve got double what they got in Tokyo [three medals] and that’s not enough.

“We are going to take money from our department. We spoke to Lotto, we spoke to SuperSport, we are speaking to different companies that are willing to put money into Project 300 where we are going to search for talent in South Africa.

“We must make sure we take a minimum of 300 athletes to the Olympics. Corporates have told me they’re going to put money in. I spoke to a lot of people and they’re willing to get involved.”

McKenzie said his job was to find the young prospects who otherwise fall through the cracks.

“If you love sport, you want to see records broken, you want to see the best of the best.”

He pointed out that creating equal access to sport was critical, saying he would achieve this even at schools in poor rural areas.

“There will be pole vaulting, there will be all the things that have never been there so that in four or five years' we can identify the champions who are going to come out of there."

The minister shared the stage with the 20-odd Olympic medallists while he spoke, regaling guests with anecdotes and humour as well as promises, including that Die Stem would not be removed from the national anthem on his watch.

He praised the medallists for the social cohesion role they had played.

“You have done more than any politician has ever done for this country to bring white, black, Indian and coloured people together,” he said.

McKenzie seemed more popular than the Olympic heroes. After the formalities guests lined up to take photos with McKenzie while the former sports stars were far easier targets.

The medallists inducted into the Hall of Fame, which houses its exhibit at the FNB Stadium, are: Elana Meyer (athletics, 1992), Piet Norval and Wayne Ferreira (tennis, 1992), Penny Heyns (swimming, 1996 and 2000), Marianne Kriel (swimming, 1996), Hezekiel Sepeng (athletics, 1996), Josia Thugwane (athletics, 1996), Terence Parkin (swimming, 2000), Frantz Kruger (athletics, 2000), Hestrie Cloete (athletics, 2000 and 2004), Llewellyn Herbert (athletics, 2000), Roland Schoeman, Ryk Neethling, Lyndon Ferns and Darian Townsend (swimming, 2004), Ramon Di Clemente and Don Cech (rowing, 2004), Mbulaeni Mulaudzi (athletics, 2004), Khotso Mokoena (athletics, 2008), Cameron van der Burgh (swimming, 2012), James Thompson, Matthew Brittain and Sizwe Ndlovu (rowing, 2012), Bridgitte Hartley (canoeing, 2012), Kyle Brown ( Sevens, 2016), Neil Powell (Sevens coach, 2016), Sunette Viljoen (athletics, 2016), Lawrence Brittain and Shaun Keeling (rowing, 2016) and Bianca Buitendag (surfing, 2020).

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