Nozipho Jafta promises special training camp for OPEX athletes in Paris

OPEX is an initiative designed to assist athletes with medal-winning potential or those capable to qualify for prestigious international events.

SASCOC CEO Nozipho Jafta told SABC Sport that OPEX operates the same way during and after the Olympic Games, confirming that all 76 athletes enrolled in the programme will receive financial support to assist them with their Olympic preparations.

"The OPEX program during the Olympic year works the same way. Remember with the OPEX program we don't create the program, we get the program from the athletes. They tell us that this is what they want to do, these are their goals and we just make sure that they achieve their goals,” Jafta said.

“So, we are going to continue supporting them the way we've been supporting them but what we have done now for some of the federations is that we signed up with three cities in France where they are going to go at least three weeks or two weeks before the Olympics so that they can climatise with the weather because it's gonna be very cold in South Africa so we don't want them to train here.

“So, we've got training camps that are gonna be happening in France for our athletes and a few other federations and I think that money comes out of the OPEX program because it is all about preparing them."

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Some athletes receive funding from OPEX, while other are supported by Olympic solidarity funding – those backed by OPEX can solely concentrate on their performance without any hindrances.

"You will see at the end when we actually do the final announcement, we will be able to tell you that out of the 130 athletes so many have been supported through OPEX and so many have gone through the Olympics solidarity funding because not everybody is supported through OPEX, we also have other mechanisms,” she added.

“So, this year this is where we are actually spending money in making sure that our athletes don't have to worry about anything else, they must just worry about their performance."