Sport Minister Gayton McKenzie has promised to refund the family of South Africa silver medalist Jo-Ane van Dyk who financially backed her trip to the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Van Dyk, a qualified dietician, who put her career on hold to pursue her Olympic dream, did the country proud as she won one of Team SA’s six medals in Paris.
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But speaking after the team returned home from Paris, McKenzie said it was important that athletes were not forced to look after themselves.
“We must invest in our athletes,” he said.
“I must congratulate Van Dyk on speaking up. I spoke to her this morning. I’m about to speak to her father, and I’m going to make sure that whatever they put in, we must give them back. They’ve invested in the country.
“We can’t sit by and see them spend their last money and bring a medal back. It will never happen under our watch that an athlete complains about inadequate help.
“Rest assured, sport will change in South Africa. This is a massive opportunity for us.
“I can promise the nation, that come 2028 in Los Angeles you will see a different team of South Africans competing. We can’t go there and have our athletes struggle.
“The work started with the president appointing me, as I’m an action man. So he already had foresight with this problem. In 100 days I will be able to tell the nation what I’ve done to ensure that we take no less than 300 athletes to LA. We can’t take 143 only. You must take 300 minimum.”
he went on to praise the efforts of the returning athletes who doubled the medal tally from the previous games in Tokyo. “We are ecstatic about their performance. They’ve doubled their tally from Tokyo where they got three medals.
“In Paris, we got six medals. We also have our most decorated Olympian in Tatjana Smith. They’ve done very well under trying circumstances,” he said.
The first Japanese woman to win a field event at the Olympics 👏
— World Athletics (@WorldAthletics) August 10, 2024
🇯🇵's Haruka Kitaguchi rules the javelin throw final with 65.80m.
🥈 Jo-Ane van Dyk 63.93m 🇿🇦
🥉 Nikola Orgrodnikova 63.68m 🇨🇿#Paris2024 #Olympics pic.twitter.com/c3oP21XdDx
