{"id":88505,"date":"2024-07-22T06:33:35","date_gmt":"2024-07-22T06:33:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/?p=88505"},"modified":"2025-11-17T17:40:03","modified_gmt":"2025-11-17T17:40:03","slug":"paris-2024-south-africa-at-olympics-7-charts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/outliereditor.co.za\/index.php\/2024\/07\/22\/paris-2024-south-africa-at-olympics-7-charts\/","title":{"rendered":"Paris 2024: South Africa’s Olympic journey in 7 charts"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Paris 2024 \u2013 or, officially, the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad \u2013 gets underway on Friday. It will be South Africa\u2019s 21st Games, its ninth since the ban against its participation was lifted in 1992.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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South African athletes have won a total of 38 medals in the post-apartheid era \u2013 11 gold, 18 silver and nine bronze, mostly in swimming and athletics. Two South Africans currently hold Olympic records: Tatjana (Schoenmaker) Smith for the 100m and 200m women\u2019s breaststroke, and Wayde van Niekerk in the men\u2019s 400m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sports stories are often best told in visuals. Here are six more charts that explore South Africa\u2019s performance on the world\u2019s greatest sporting stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Women were not allowed to compete at the Olympic Games until the 1900 Paris Olympics. Now, in the same city 124 years later, there will be equal numbers of male and female athletes on the field of play.\nBut the number of women in the South African team has always been lower than the number of men. This year, women make up just under 45% of SA\u2019s competitors.\nBoth the men\u2019s and women\u2019s hockey teams and rugby Sevens teams will be in Paris this year. According to Sascoc<\/a>, there are 11 female track and field athletes in the team and 23 men. With six women, the female aquatics squad is double that of the men\u2019s.\nTatjana (Schoenmaker) Smith is one of two South Africans who currently hold Olympic records. She holds the record for the 100m and 200m women\u2019s breaststroke. She took home two medals in 2020 \u2013 one gold and one silver. Note: Amended 24 July 2024 to reflect final numbers, as per Sascoc update.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Even numbers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Women were not allowed to compete at the Games until the 1900 Paris Olympics. Now, in the same city 124 years later, there will be equal numbers of male and female athletes on the field of play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than half of the athletes from North America and Oceania are women and almost half (49%) from Asia and Europe are women. Africa and South America both fall below the half-way point, with African teams having the lowest proportion of women. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are exceptions. Female competitors make up two-thirds of the Olympic team for Sierra Leone, Zambia, Nigeria, Angola, Cameroon, Lesotho, Malawi and S\u00e3o Tom\u00e9 and Pr\u00edncipe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The number of women in the South African team has always been lower than the number of men. This year, we\u2019re nearing parity, with women making up a just under 45% of the competitors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Swimmer Blanche Nash was the first woman to represent South Africa at Antwerp in 1920. In 1928, five of the 10 South Africans in Athens were women. All were swimmers, with the women\u2019s relay team winning bronze.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1952, swimmer Esther Brand became the first SA woman to win an Olympic gold. A few days later, 16-year-old Joan Harrison won the 100m backstroke. It would take 44 years for South Africa to win another gold in the pool, with Penny Heyns winning two at the 1996 Games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Size matters<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This year\u2019s TeamSA stands at 138 athletes across 19 codes \u2013 including four sports climbers, three skateboarders, two BMX trick riders, an archer and a badminton player.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The men’s and women’s hockey (32) and rugby 7s (24) are the biggest teams. The codes with the most participants are track and field (34 athletes) and aquatics (eight swimmers and one diver). The South African cohort is smaller than Tokyo 2020\u2019s, when 179 athletes participated in 17 sports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ga-ga for gold<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

At the Olympics, a country\u2019s position on the medals table is based simply on gold medals. Silver and bronze are used as tie-breakers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When measured in golds, South Africa\u2019s two most-successful performances are a century apart. In the 1912 Games in Stockholm, South Africa won four golds and two silvers in tennis, cycling and the marathon. Tennis player Charles Winslow, one of SA\u2019s most-successful Olympians, won two of those gold medals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At London in 2012, TeamSA won four golds in rowing, swimming and athletics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa\u2019s highest medal haul is 10 at the 2016 Olympics in Rio, but only two of those were gold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Apart from Winslow, only two other South Africans who have two golds: swimmer Penny Heyns; and 800m queen Caster Semenya, who is South Africa\u2019s only black female medalist. She won in 2012 and 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Swimmer Chad le Clos is the country\u2019s most-decorated Olympian, with a total of four medals, one of which is gold. Paris will be the 32-year-old\u2019s fourth Games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You may notice \u2018Art\u2019 in the list of medals for South Africa. These were won in competitions, held as part of the Games between 1912 and 1948, to reward artistic works, such as poems or sculptures, that were \u2018inspired by sport\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In numbers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n