After months of uncertainty over sponsors and speculation about whether athletes would have to pay their own way to Rio, the SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee unveiled a number of lucrative carrots for our top athletes who are aiming to win a gold, silver or bronze medal. This shows that our aspirational goal has kept British sport united, motivated and determined to build on those incredible successes in London.
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But Simon Timson, director of performance at UK Sport, admitted on Thursday: “Our original promise was hugely ambitious to motivate the high performance system”.
If ever the South African Olympic team needed extra motivation to go for gold at the Rio Games, they received it on Thursday in the shape of a number of financial incentives from Sascoc.
Target ranges were produced for each sport, with cycling tipped to produce the most medals – eight to 10 – despite recent upheaval. Preparations over the last four years have gone well with UK Sport working hard, alongside the British Olympic Association and British Paralympic Association, to confirm Britain’s position as one of the leading Olympic and Paralympic nations in the world. “During London 2012 I got married on the day of the Opening Ceremony, and what better way to celebrate this year, than gathering as a family and watching our athletes make the whole country proud out in Rio”.
“We fully believe Team GB can once again make history at this summer’s Olympic Games and unite the nation”, said Bill Sweeney, chief executive of the BOA. This time, the Mayor went on social media and asked Japanese videogame maker Nintendo to launch Pokemon Go, a game for smartphones, in Brazil before the Olympics start in August.
“We acknowledge and appreciate the athletes’ finesse, expertise and prowess in your specific discipline of sport”. The target medal range, based on its analysis of the latest performance data, is 47 to 79.
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