Team South Africa arrives back home!

After a few last minute delays a tired but happy Team South Africa arrived back home yesterday, landing at ORTIA around 10.30am.

The eight hour charter flight also brought back the teams from Zimbabwe, Swaziland and Mozambique.

A spontaneous cheer went up inside the aircraft when it touched down, indicating that while the team enjoyed the competition in Algiers, they were very glad to be back home.

"I'm looking forward to a big mug of coffee," one team manager said, while another was looking forward to a cold beer. Coffee is only served in small espresso cups in Algeria, while beers are virtually unobtainable.

A small press conference was held at the airport, at which SASCOC president Moss Mashishi welcomed the team back and expressed is satisfaction with the team's performance.

 

 

 

 

Technorati Tags: all africa games, southafrica, algeria, algiers, south africa, sport, sports, africa

Latest news

Here are two news items. First a press statement from the Chef de Mission:

As Chef de Mission of Team SA, we were surprised to learn that the athletes who were scheduled to participate in the 4x400m men’s relay final at the 9th All Africa Games, an event entered into by the athletics team management, have emerged in Monaco. The departure of the two athletes, L.J van Zyl and Alwyn Myburgh, which resulted in withdrawal from the event, was not communicated to us as management of Team SA.

After enquiring from the athletics manager, Mr. Molatelo Malehopo, it was confirmed that the athletes are indeed in Monaco. We are not satisfied with the reasons given by Mr. Molatelo Malehopo. SASCOC will institute an enquiry
into the matter upon our return to South Africa.

Hajera Kajee
Chef de Mission


** Obviously all the facts are not known yet, but doesn't this want to make you cry 'foul'?


And here's the other story: It also seems that at least one female Nigerian weightlifter was, or will be, stripped of her medal on suspicion of doping. It was in her category - 48kg- that young Portia Vries won her three medals (two silver and a bronze). However at this stage I can't find out whether this will affect Portia's medal count, hopefully I'll have an answer from the powers that be soon enough.

Farewell, Algeria

The athletes of Team South Africa were yesterday treated to a farewell lunch at the Sofitel Hotel. Among the dignatories in attendance were the Deputy Minister, Mr Gert Oosthuizen, Mr Sam Ramsamy, and the South African Ambassador, Mr Moloi.

For many of the athletes, a decent meal was indeed a treat after two weeks of eating what Mr Oosthuizen called 'the equivalent of a Red Cross emergency meal'. Not that it was particularly bad, but you can only eat out of a cardboard box so many times before it loses its appeal.

 So they really laid into the appetizing food, but it was well deserved. Having observed many participants from floor level - I had a press pass enabling me to see competitors first hand - I can honestly say that all participants were focused on delivering their best, and deserved equal honour, medal or no medal.

Later in the afternoon some of the athletes visited the exhibition centre where we had the 2010 expo stand, but I could see by their listlessness all that was on their minds was getting home.

We broke down the exhibition at around four in the afternoon, and there was the usual exhibition stampede of visitors trying to score the last few give-aways we had to get rid of. One of the Algerian students who were helping out at the exhibition came to us, genuinely upset but the way his countrymen were behaving. We explained that this kind of behaviour happens at all exhibitions, no matter where in the world it took place. He felt a bit better after that, but was clearly embarrassed by his fellow Algerians.

The ten laws of driving in Algiers

While my driver Nounow is generally a wonderful, helpful gentleman, he turns into a maniac when he gets in behind a steering wheel. Traveling with an Algerian driver is definitely not for the squeamish, made worse by the fact that the city has no traffic lights to speak of, a total of about two stop signs, and a zillion traffic circles that each split into at least thirteen roads and become a complete mess during peak hour. Judging by their ad hoc way of driving it seems that Algerian road users simply make up the traffic rules as they go along. So to help codify the traffic regulations of Algiers I've come up with the following suggestions:

1. When entering a four way crossing, oncoming traffic will slow down for you.
   Pass slower cars anywhere, anytime. Trust that oncoming cars will slow down enough to allow you to pass. If they don't they'll move off the road anyway.
2. When in a hurry, switch on emergency lights, hoot, and proceed to drive at top speed in the emergency lane.
3. Feel free to park people in. In turn, when you yourself are parked in, hoot continuously until the offending driver arrives.
4. You may come across a foreigner who is upset by your driving. Simply shake your head, and proceed to loudly voice your opinion in your unique Franco-Arabic dialect that no-one from outside Algeria understands.
5. Always do your utmost to jump a queue of cars.
6. It's OK to go up a one way street, as the oncoming traffic will move aside to let you through.
7. When lost, don't hesitate to stop anywhere to ask for directions. Ignore the cars hooting behind you.
8. Join in and play the popular traffic game called 'I can pass closer to your car than you can to mine'. I've heard the records stands at 2,35mm.
9. Remember there's a traffic fine for not using your hooter at least three times during a trip.
10. Pedestrians can appear ahead of you in the road at any given time, since 'pedestrian crossing' isn't a concept that has been discovered in Algeria yet. Do your utmost to miss them while at the same time scaring the living daylights out of them.

On the upside I must say despite the way they drive I've never seen an Algerian driver become aggressive or abusive, and the quality of the main roads and highways are excellent. But I'm really missing those polite, considerate Jo'burg drivers.

...and it's over

... bar the shouting at the closing ceremony tonight.

Today is the final day of the All Africa Games, and there's only one event schedules, the final in the men's football, and South Africa isn't competing, so this is our final medal tally: 62 gold, 58 silver, and 53 bronze.

We end the Games in third place behind Egypt (74 gold) and Algeria (70), while Algeria leads the overall medals tally with 204. The athletes start departing for home today. Most of them are exhausted and tired of boxed food, so can't wait to get back to home soil.

Those traveling with the charter plane leave tomorrow night at 10pm.

I'll post something on the final goings-on and a few mental meanderings here tonight.

Good spread of medals

We're still lying third behind Algeria and Egypt who are running neck in neck for the winner of the All Africa Games, but good performances were recorded in most sports today.

 

 

Have a look at the daily results on the left for a breakdown of the day's activities.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We've also compiled a medal count by sport, as of today. In a nutshell, swimming leads the field, having contributed no less than 51 medals out of a total of 169. Second best contribution was athletics, both abled and disabled, with 17 each. Notable contributions from other sports were sailing, sailing, chess, and gymnastics. Not that medal count comparison means much, as one can't really compare the team sports with individual sports, team sizes vary, and so on. Let's just say a medal's a medal!

New table tennis victory dance?

I enjoy table tennis. It appeals to both the warrior and peace-lover in me. It's fast, furiously paced, and looks extremely vicious from the sidelines, but no-one gets hurt. And you're allowed to give a little war cry after each victory point. Or scream in frustration if you miss it. Kind of like instant anger management.

 

 

I watched Shane Overmeyer do a little more than the above after his win over his Egyptian opponent: At the end of the game he actually did half a backward somersault right next to the table, so elated was he about his win.

I was particularly glad to see an SABC crew interview Shane after his victory, glad because table tennis is a sport that normally gets overlooked in the mass media. So hopefully you'll see Shane at the All Africa Games on television soon!

Technorati Tags: all africa games, africa, table tennis, sport, sports, algeria, algiers, south africa, southafrica