Ah, what a weekend. South African sport hasn't always been a byword for solidarity, but for once that changed, rugby and the Olympics coming together in splendid symmetry. Three weeks in Beijing for one medal — silver! — and a couple of months of Tri-Nations for one victory; just so long as the Springboks don't spoil things by winning at Ellis Park, we'll have a wonderful streak of unity with which to celebrate the arrival of summer.

It's the Olympic medal table that grabs the most immediate attention, a vivid illustration of our status in global Games community. What do we have in common with Ecuador, Sudan, Iceland and Vietnam? Why, we all finished level on the Beijing medal table! Illustrious company indeed. And lest you fear the celebrations end there, worry not: Armenia's six medals and Chinese Taipei's four might dwarf our lone success, but the mechanics of the final count mean our silver trumps their collective bronzes. Take that, Armenia!

Throw in the fact that we were only just behind Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and the Bahamas — and well within range of Estonia, Bahrain, and the Dominican Republic — and the Olympic glow beneath which South Africa basks this morning rivals the one that sits like a halo above the Springbok team hotel. Hell, we even finished a spot or two above Afghanistan; it's not like they've got anything to distract them from Olympic preparation.

Our athletes, on the other hand, had the task of deciding who would win our medal, and thus continue the Springbok/Olympic synergy so apparent in recent weeks. The Boks made the first move, spurning all scoring opportunities at Newlands to match the Beijing medal haul at that stage; Team South Africa returned the favour with the medal that matches the one-win count for the Tri-Nations.

And that, one feels, is how things will end. How ignorant those philistines at the Absa Stadium, booing a team that had merely set out to support Olympian countrymen; after all, there's no way a Springbok side could have been so woeful unless it was deliberate, surely? The booing drowned out Peter de Villiers's words after the game, so I couldn't hear what he was saying (not that it mattered; there are a handful of Harvard linguists, specialising in communicating with lost Amazonian tribes, who can understand De Villiers, so I wouldn't have understood a word anyway), but I've no doubt the message was simple: Team South Africa and the Springboks are united as one.

One merely has to look back at the thumping of Argentina (disregard their host of missing players, the first 30 minutes of the game, and the fact that the Pumas stole every ball at the breakdown for the opening half an hour) for a true reflection of the Boks; or to the famous victory in New Zealand, in which a slice of fortune for a well-fed scrumhalf having an otherwise ordinary afternoon is of no consequence whatsoever. And given New Zealand's nine medals and Argentina's six in Beijing, the rugby victories take on even greater lustre.

There's still a ripple of discontent from amongst those South Africans who fail to see the bigger Olympic/rugby picture (the hardcore harbingers of doom are even dragging the cricket defeat on Friday into one great, gloomy sporting equation; do they not realise that the cricketers are far too busy running raffles and cake sales to help Herschelle out with his alimony to worry about menial results?); a word of reassurance, then, from my well-placed Olympic sources.

As a simple gesture of gratitude for supporting Team South Africa, our Olympians have set up rugby clashes with the powerhouses that finished alongside them in Beijing. Thus prepare for Test matches against Ecuador, Sudan, Iceland and Vietnam, matches the Springboks must be confident of at least proving competitive in. And if we're lucky, it'll turn out that one of the nations speaks a language something akin to that of our national coach, thus facilitating some much-needed translation. Until then, bring on Ellis Park and London 2012.

  • Contact Dan at dan@metropolis.co.za
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