The day before the first modern Olympic Games started in Athens in 1896, US athlete Robert Garrett spotted a discus on the ground, tried it out and decided to enter the event. He went on to win it.
Such events are unlikely to occur over the next two weeks, when the Olympic Games returns to its ancient home in the Greek capital.
Efforts by the Greek organisers to restore a human face to the games' gigantism seem doomed in the face of the commercialism that mushrooms every four years.
In a recent book, The Invention of the Modern Olympic Games, author Michael Llewellyn Smith says the games have come to celebrate "the triumph of modernity, capitalism, commerce, sporting prowess and celebrity culture".
At least sporting prowess still makes the list, but certainly the principles of amateurism, sportsmanship and adventure that were the guiding principles of the games in 1896 have been glazed with a thick layer of commerce.
The financial numbers linked to the Athens games are mind-boggling. The overall euro 4,6bn (R35bn) games budget will be exceeded by about euro 2bn, though the exact figures will only be known once the athletes have gone home. The construction budget for the Olympics facilities has shot up by euro 500m to euro 1,1bn, and the infrastructure budget by euro 400m to about euro 1,2bn.
But it is the security budget, prepared before the September 11 attacks in 2001, that had to be doubled amid fears that the games would make an ideal target for terrorists. At euro 1,2bn, the security cost is five times the amount spent to protect the Sydney Olympics in 2000.
Security considerations aside, cost overruns have become the norm for any city that has hosted the Olympics. Yet since 1984 - when Los Angeles staged the games - all the host cities have benefited from their efforts, financially and in public relations (PR) terms, establishing themselves firmly in the minds of tourists and marketers.
Such is the power of the five Olympic rings - the world's most recognised brand logo, ahead of McDonald's and Shell - that the top 10 sponsors, including Visa, Coca-Cola, Kodak, Panasonic and McDonald's, have paid a combined US$600m to be associated with the Athens games.
In return they get exclusive marketing rights and branding, which is already in evidence. The brand recognition afforded by the Olympics is unbeatable, say the sponsors, few of whom won't bid for the same rights in four years' time.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) also estimates that about $1bn has been paid for broadcasting rights for the games, the biggest single revenue item.
In SA, the terrestrial TV rights were won by the SABC for $8m, with DSTV paying about $2m for the digital rights for Africa. The broadcasters are set to get their money back, and more, from associated advertising.
The games are unlike any other event it overshadows even the soccer World Cup is and is covered in minute detail by about 20 000 journalists who will be in Athens; about two journalists to every athlete. The PR opportunities for the host city cannot be underestimated.
The Olympics also enable a city to play host to hundreds of thousands of visitors with the commensurate spending amounting to billions. Athens expects about 1,5m extra visitors in August, but has sold only about three- quarters of the available 5,3m tickets to date. The organisers believe this will pick up as the games approach and during the event, judging from the experience of previous hosts.
Amid the billions of US dollars bandied about in Athens, the R100m four-year budget for the preparation of SA athletes to the Olympics seems minuscule.
"It's not enough," admits Sam Ramsamy, outgoing National Olympic Committee of SA (Nocsa) president.
Ramsamy compares the R25m/year expenditure by Nocsa with the annual $400m that the US Olympic Committee receives, and the A$300m budget of the Australian Olympic Committee, which is further augmented by individual states, such as New South Wales and Victoria.
In the seven-year run-up to the Sydney Olympics, the Australian government allocated A$100m/year for sports development.
"South Africans like to compare themselves with the Australians on the sporting field, but we must keep in mind that our budget support is about 1% of theirs," says Ramsamy, who has been at the forefront of the local Olympic movement since his return from exile in the early-1990s.
With the exception of SA's larger sports, such as cricket, rugby, soccer and, to some extent, boxing and athletics, all other sporting codes - Ramsamy says the figure is more than 50 - rely heavily on Nocsa for financial support and managerial backing.
A look at the budget of the department of sport & recreation (DSR) explains the heavy dependence on Nocsa by many sporting bodies.
In the 2004/2005 financial year, a mere R126m has been allocated for funding sports - and it is limited to 21 national federations - with a further R137m dedicated to the building of sports infrastructure.
The SA Sports Academy, which is modelled on the successful Australian system, is expected to get off the ground this year, but will receive only R25m for the first two years of its operation. The Australian Institute of Sport received at least 10 times that allocation in its first few years.
Ramsamy says that while the budget "needs to be much bigger", the new sport & recreation minister Makenkesi Stofile is committed to the development of sport, particularly in poorer areas.
Even with the limited resources, Ramsamy believes SA sport can be boosted if the attention is focused on identifying sporting talent at school level.
He identifies three important steps that would help in the process:
- Attend school competitions and identify talent at primary-school level;
- Place good talent in high schools with better sporting facilities, as was done for the Protea's Makhaya Ntini, for example; and
- Spread and develop the SA club system, which would give talented sportsmen and women access to a sporting career once school is finished.
Outlining Nocsa's budget, Ramsamy says the organisation received R15m from the national lottery in addition to the R80m it received from its eight sponsors - SAA, SABC Sport, DaimlerChrysler, Telkom, Sasol, Vodacom, Adidas and the DSR.
He says some of the sponsorship is in kind, such as SABC airtime, sports equipment from Adidas and air tickets from SAA.
The R80m in sponsorship compares well with previous Olympic Games - for the Sydney games, a mere R40m was available, and in 1992 the team had to make do with only R5m.
Though some of the funds are used to pay for Nocsa's administration and publicity for the SA Olympic team, the bulk of the sponsorship money is dedicated to Operation Excellence, the programme that finances the athletes' preparation for the games.
Most of the local athletes are amateurs, so the funding is vital to pay for their time, facilities, coaches and medical treatment, says Ramsamy.
The amounts allocated depend on the prospects of each individual athlete, and Nocsa has created three categories into which they divide the athletes. Hestrie Cloete, Hezekiel Sepeng and other potential medal winners receive up to R6 000/month.
Athletes who have a chance of making it to the final event in their sports receive slightly less and the remaining participants are granted up to R2 000/month.
But support doesn't only take the form of a monthly subsidy. In Cloete's case, Nocsa contributed about R100 000 to develop facilities at her old high school in her hometown of Lichtenburg in the NorthWest, says Ramsamy.
Furthermore, the organisation picked up R45 000 in medical bills for highjumper Jacques Freitag, who has returned to fitness ahead of the Olympics and is again a potential medal winner.
Ramsamy also pays a special tribute to accounting firm Ernst & Young, which has provided 25 Olympic athletes with appropriate jobs that allow them plenty of time to prepare for the games.
What do the sponsors get in return? Ramsamy says the Olympic logo is the most recognised logo worldwide and sponsors have full rights to use it in their marketing campaigns. Unlike the successful bid to host the 2010 soccer World Cup, there is a feeling that sponsors have not utilised their Olympic association to demonstrate similar brand patriotism.
Research group BMI's Johan Grobler says successful sponsorship uses all associations with a particular sport or sporting event.
Research has show that dedicated sports consumers prefer buying brands that are associated with their favourite teams or sports.
"The Olympic rings add significant value to any marketing campaign," says Ramsamy, who believes that the eight sponsors are getting strong value from their association with the Olympic movement.
