As the 106-member SA team left for Athens last week, there were more than a few mumblings about the country's "too white" squad.
The comments that got most of the headlines were from National Olympic Committee of SA (Nocsa) president Sam Ramsamy, who said the team was not reflective of the country's demographics.
Though his comments reflected his frustration with the slow pace of development in some sporting codes, Ramsamy is more pragmatic than many critics give him credit for.
In an interview with the FM, he stressed that he disliked the term "quota", preferring to talk about "targets and goals".
"Quotas have a role, particularly in team sports, but there are more fundamental ways of addressing the lack of representativity in SA sport," Ramsamy says.
He calls for an expansion of sports infrastructure and facilities among the black population. "If we provide the same opportunities to the black communities as we do for the white population, I believe we will soon have a much larger black participation in most sporting codes. This is far more appropriate than applying quotas," Ramsamy says.
Nocsa's approach ties in with that of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which insists that 15% of the athletes participating must be allocated in terms of the principle of "universality". This allows developing countries to select athletes who failed to meet the qualifying criteria, but can gain from the Olympic experience.
"If it weren't for universality, many African countries would have only flag bearers to represent them," says Ramsamy, only half jokingly. "Universality provides the inspiration and opportunity to develop athletes for greater performances."
Nocsa cites Mozambique's Maria Mutola, who has dominated the 800 m event for years, as an example of an athlete who has benefited from the system.
In applying universality to SA, Ramsamy says members of previously disadvantaged communities are selected when they are close to the standards required.
In a recent survey, South Africans said they expected the Olympic team to return with about 35 medals from Athens. This is unrealistic. At best, the team will do well to equal the achievement in Atlanta in 1996, when SA won three golds, a silver and a bronze. Even the Sydney 2002 haul of two silver and three bronze would not be a bad achievement, though this implies Hestrie Cloete would not win the women's high jump.
She has won 16 of 18 competitions in the run-up to Athens and is SA's best hope for gold.
Cloete's male counterpart in the high-jump, Jacques Freitag, is another strong contender for a medal, though he has only recently returned from injury. But since then he has shown good form.
On the track, the best medal prospects are our two 800 m entrants Altanta silver medallist Hezekiel Sepeng and world indoor champion Mbulaeni Mulaudzi.
As Josiah Thugwane demonstrated in Atlanta, the marathon is a wide-open race and two of our three entrants - Hendrik Ramaala and Gert Thys - stand an outside chance of a podium position. Other seasoned field and track athletes with a chance are Sydney bronze medallists Frantz Kruger (discus) and Llewellyn Herbert (400 m hurdles).
Off the track, the swimmers stand a good chance of bringing home medals. Ronald Schoeman would be disappointed if he returned empty-handed as he is ranked second in the world this year in the 50 m and 100 m freestyle. Ryk Neethling - in the 100 m and 200 m freestyle - is an outside medal hope.
For the remainder of the SA team, reaching the finals would be a big achievement. The notable exceptions are our heavyweight coxless rowing pair Ramon di Clemente and Donovan Cesh, who have placed among the top three in a number of events leading up to Athens.
