It cost R27.9m to send Team SA to Olympics — nearly R1m of which was for McKenzie to attend

The department of sport, arts and culture has revealed it spent R27.9m to send Team South Africa to the 2024 Paris Olympics.

This figure was disclosed by minister Gayton McKenzie in reply to a parliamentary question.

The amount was allocated for the preparations, support and travel of the 146 athletes who represented the country.

“The South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee, in their response, has indicated that invoices are still being processed for the Olympic Games and are therefore unable to quantify the cost per athlete at the time of this response.

“However, the budget for the support, preparation, and delivery of Team SA to the Olympics was R27.892,000 and covers costs related to athletes and technical support only,” McKenzie said.

McKenzie said eight officials, including himself, travelled to the Olympics.

“A total estimated budget of R1.805,335 was approved by the minister for officials travelling to the Olympics.”

R804,597 was spent on McKenzie's trip to France. This amount included flights, insurance, accommodation and ground transport, which cost half of the total amount.

Team South Africa returned home with six medals — one gold, three silver and two bronze.

Looking ahead to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, McKenzie has ambitious plans to send more athletes to the games. He aims to identify 300 talented individuals from disadvantaged communities to join the national team.

“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 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,” McKenzie said.

“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.”

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