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00:00Now Africa's top sportsmen and women continue to show their athletic prowess at the Paris Olympics.
00:06Well, week one of the Games is wrapping up this Friday.
00:09Let's cross over to speak to Bilelo Thinta in Johannesburg. He's a sports journalist.
00:14It's great to see you again, Bilelo.
00:16So swimming is wrapping up now and athletics is getting underway.
00:20But there's been a bit of controversy, hasn't there?
00:22Because Nigerian athletes Fava Ofuli didn't get to run in today's 100-meter sprint heats.
00:30Quite right. The 21-year-old Dynamo, who is Nigeria's 100-meter champion,
00:34was knocked out by poor bureaucracy on her country's part.
00:39The NOC, the Nigerian Olympic Committee, failed to register her in time.
00:43Now, keep in mind, the disappointment is doubled and amplified because in Tokyo,
00:48it was the very same story because the Nigerian NOC didn't allow the athletes to test in time
00:55to meet the regulations of the IOC, the International Olympic Committee.
00:59So it is the second Olympics in a row where she hasn't been able to run.
01:02She's 21 years old and she is arguably the biggest female star
01:06in America right now at Louisiana State University, which is a big,
01:10big problem because if you look in the NFL, there are big stars that will back their alumni.
01:14And this is a big problem for Nigeria and for Africa and the PR of what we're trying
01:18to do for our great athletes who work so hard to achieve the Olympic dream.
01:21An absolute catastrophe.
01:23Yeah, it's quite shocking that this has actually happened.
01:26And Belilo, is this just another example of
01:29bad governance in general when it comes to African athletes?
01:33I think there has been sort of a rising tide of our athletes, I speak on behalf of Africa,
01:38because from the Maghreb right down to the SADC region,
01:42athletes have been sort of migrating to the global north,
01:45not because they don't want to run for their beloved nations,
01:48but rather because the incentives which they are given, both financial and also,
01:52of course, these are the most competitive human beings you may ever meet in the world,
01:57is that they are looked after, developed and then obviously taken to the peak of their performance,
02:02whether it be in the Americas or indeed Europe.
02:04And it's absolutely heartbreaking to see a genuine gem and a star like this being treated like this.
02:10And it is perpetuating an age old problem.
02:13Part of our problem that we've had as Africa, and I speak as a South African,
02:18but it's happened with many of the OCs that have gone across,
02:22is sometimes the delegations are actually better and bigger.
02:27The bureaucratic guys, there's more of them than the actual athletes,
02:30which is very, very troubling.
02:32And now these rumblings arise again, an absolute catastrophe
02:36in what is supposed to be Africa's time, right?
02:38When athletics start in week two, we know what time it is.
02:41Unfortunately, this has been marred by this brilliant,
02:44brilliant young woman being denied a chance to participate.
02:48And I might add there that her PB of 10.93
02:53would have been enough to get her at least into the final.
02:55So we're not talking about somebody who would have just been there and nice to participate.
03:00We're talking about somebody who would have been in the final,
03:02because remember, she's got a 10.93 personal best and she won in 11.06,
03:06of course, the African title earlier this year, the Nigerian title, excuse me.
03:10So she would have been in the final.
03:11That's an even bigger disaster because that's a medal opportunity for Nigeria.
03:15It's really a pity for Fava O'Filly there.
03:18Let's move on because the continent is losing one of its greatest swimmers of all time.
03:22Tatiana Smith has announced her retirement.
03:26At the ripe old age of 27, believe it or not, she has called it a day.
03:31It might sound young, of course, for you and I who walk around in the streets,
03:34but for a female swimmer in particular,
03:36the sports science has shown in around 28, 29, the women tend to retire.
03:42So this is and it has been her swan song.
03:44So we're talking about comfortably the greatest African swimmer of all time,
03:49but she's actually in another conversation for being
03:51the greatest breaststroke Olympic swimmer of all time
03:55because she is in very rarefied air along with Kosuke Kadaji,
04:00who is the Japanese medalist where they have four medals in terms of the breaststroke.
04:06Only those two women in the history of breaststroke have achieved that feat,
04:10by the way, at the Olympics, men or women.
04:13So we're talking about the greatest breaststroke swimmer,
04:16arguably of all time, wrapping things up.
04:19As a South African, we couldn't be more proud of this gracious
04:22all-time champion, all-time Olympian in Tatiana Smith.
04:25And she leaves it behind now to the young Canadian Summer McIntosh,
04:30who seems to be the next flag bearer for swimming.
04:32To Tatiana, to her family, she can be extremely proud of what she's achieved.
04:36Yeah, she's definitely the sport is definitely going to miss her.
04:39I have to say thank you so much.
04:42He's a sports journalist in Johannesburg.
04:44Thanks so much for that update and your insights.