‘Ons maak ’n plan’ McKenzie tells SA athletes in Paris
Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture Gayton McKenzie has lauded the spirit in the South African Olympic team.
McKenzie addressed the country's athletes on Friday, hours before the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics.
He said that while Team South Africa might not have all the support staff compared to teams from some other countries, they have the spirit.
"Ons maak ’n plan,” he said.
“We may not have that, but let me tell you what we have that they don’t: We have the South Africanness in us. We are South Africans, and there is just a special gene in being a South African.”
Paris was on Friday counting down the hours to the most ambitious Olympics opening ceremony in history on the river Seine.
The show on Friday evening will see up to 7,500 competitors sail down a six-kilometre stretch of the Seine on 85 boats, accompanied by a performance blending French culture and Olympic values that organisers promise will be spectacular.
Compared to the Covid-blighted Tokyo Olympics, where the Games were delayed by a year and opened in an empty stadium, the Paris ceremony will take place in front of 300,000 spectators and an audience of VIPs and celebrities from around the world.
The line-up of performers is a closely guarded secret but US pop star Lady Gaga and French-Malian singer Aya Nakamura -- the most listened-to French-speaking singer in the world -- are rumoured to be among them.
*Additional reporting by AFP
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