Share

SASCOC names first 24 Rio-bound Team SA athletes

Cape Town - Olympic governing body SASCOC on Wednesday announced the first names of Team South Africa to participate at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

The initial squad of 24 athletes was released after the completion of the final qualifying deadlines in some of the different sporting codes.

This team is a blend of experienced and new talent with many team members having worn the green and gold of Team South Africa at previous Olympic Games.

More than 10 500 athletes from 207 countries are expected to attend the event that will take place from August 5-21, 2016.

At the last Olympic Games in London, Team South Africa ended 23rd on the medals table with a total of six medals. The medals tally was made up of three gold, two silver and one bronze.

Cameron van der Burgh (100m breaststroke), Chad le Clos (200m butterfly), and the men’s lightweight fours rowing combination won gold medals, athlete Caster Semenya won silver in the 800m track race and another silver came Le Clos in the 100m butterfly race while canoeist Bridgitte Hartley bagged the bronze medal in the K1 500m.

SASCOC president Gideon Sam congratulated the first members of the squad: “It’s a very exciting time for us at Olympic House and it feels almost unreal to be able to reach a stage where we are able to announce the first names of a team that we feel can bring huge sporting pride to the whole of South Africa.”

Tubby Reddy, SASCOC CEO also expressed his happiness at the initial team announcement: “The time we have been waiting and preparing for in this quadrennial has finally arrived. With the combined team effort from the National Federations, coaches, athletes and us at SASCOC, we’re confident that we have compiled the best team possible with the resources available.

‘The team is an excellent combination of experienced campaigners and rising stars who will hopefully bring more medals from Rio than we did at the 2012 London Olympics.”

The final Olympic Games team will be announced at a press conference on July 14, 2016 while the Paralympic Games team will be announced prior to that on July 6 at a press conference as well.

The initial list of athletes in Team South Africa for the 2016 Olympic Games are:

ATHLETICS

(This is a provisional squad for the Marathon). If any athletes qualify with a better time between now and July 11, 2016, they will be considered.

Men

Lusapho April

Sibusiso Nzima

Lungile Gongqa

Women

Irvette Van Zyl

Christina Kalmer

Diana Lebo Phalula

CYCLING

Men’s Road Race

Daryl Impey

Louis Meintjes

CANOEING

Women

Bridgitte Hartley

GYMNASTICS

Men’s Artistic Gymnastics

Ryan Patterson

SAILING

Stefano Marcia

Asenathi Jim

Roger Hudson

AQUATICS

Swimming

Men

Chad Le Clos

Cameron Van de Burgh

Sebastien Rousseau

Michael Meyer

Christopher Reid

Matthew Meyer

Myles Brown

Bradley Tandy

Douglas Erasmus

Jarred Crous

Diving

Women

Julia Vincent

We live in a world where facts and fiction get blurred
Who we choose to trust can have a profound impact on our lives. Join thousands of devoted South Africans who look to News24 to bring them news they can trust every day. As we celebrate 25 years, become a News24 subscriber as we strive to keep you informed, inspired and empowered.
Join News24 today
heading
description
username
Show Comments ()
Voting Booth
Should Siya Kolisi keep the captaincy as the Springboks build towards their World Cup title defence in 2027?
Please select an option Oops! Something went wrong, please try again later.
Results
Yes! Siya will only be 36 at the next World Cup. He can make it!
25% - 1273 votes
No! I think the smart thing to do is start again with a younger skipper ...
29% - 1472 votes
I'd keep Siya captain for now, but look to have someone else for 2027.
45% - 2251 votes
Vote
Editorial feedback and complaints

Contact the public editor with feedback for our journalists, complaints, queries or suggestions about articles on News24.

LEARN MORE