Olympic Moments

Last night my daughter and I cheered loudly for Oscar Pistorius. We knew that he didn’t stand a chance of doing well enough but we were proud of him. His bravery, determination and perseverance are inspirational and his fellow-runners as well as the crowd certainly acknowledged that.

I have been enjoying the proudly South African moments brought on by our performance in the Olympics in the past week. I last felt like this two years ago when we were in the grips of soccer fever. We all need the positive model of hard work and dedication which has been provided in bucket loads, not only by our swimmers and rowing team, but from all who have succeeded in representing their country at this gathering.

Cameron van der Burgh got us off to a good start with our first gold medal since the 2004 Olympics. The rowers paced themselves and gave it their all with a final push to surge into history. And then young Chad le Clos...what can I say?

I got all choked up as I watched his bottom lip quiver and his eyes fill with tears as he stood on the medal podium. And who was not moved by the image of his father mopping his face with the South African flag which he then covered his head and face with. Every parent must have an inkling of what he was feeling then. I wonder what it must feel like to be so young and then to beat your idol – where do you go from here?

Our lone medal winner from the last Olympics, Khotso Mokoena, failed to make it anywhere near the top three this time, but hey, he is still up there with the best in the world.

Caster Semenya’s parents are braving an airplane journey for the first time in their lives to watch their daughter represent her country. I’m looking forward to that. 

Reaping the Benefits

Having been swept up in the flurry of the end of the year, I am a little shell-shocked to find myself landed in the third week of January with my daughter about to start university. It has been a long time of concentrated effort – mock exams first and then a month later, the finals. It seemed that they had no sooner done one set of exams when they started the next. I could almost see all the adrenalin draining out of her body after she wrote her last paper.

I am happy to report that the exams have gone well from all perspectives. Our military-style operation (yoga, shiatsu, diet, boot camp) has paid off and here we are, reaping the rewards of hard work. Not only has she been accepted at the University of Cape Town, she has been offered a scholarship based on her academic performance....very proud family!

She only applied to UCT (“because you and dad went there”). Dad and I needed special permits to attend the university as we were not white. It makes me even prouder that here she is, no baggage, in her own right and on her own merit, entering UCT. I’m looking forward to this new phase in all our lives.