The South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) signed another sponsorship, this time with Veldskoen Shoes, now an official off-field shoe sponsor for the South African Olympic and Paralympic Teams ahead of the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The announcement was made at the 100-day countdown press conference held on Wednesday at the Olympic House in Johannesburg.
In making the announcement, CEO and Founder of Veldskoen Shoes, Nick Dreyer said, ‘We want people to show their support for our teams regardless of whether they’re watching from the stadium or from home.’
‘Businesses can buy Veldskoen for their work teams and share in the spirit of being South African, by partaking in Veldskoen Fridays. It’s one day of the week when we want the whole country to wear their vellies to work.’
Veldskoen MD Ross Zondagh also added, ‘It is very surreal for me. Veldskoen started as a moment of curiosity, a little dream. And now, our little dream will be walking out of that stadium tunnel to the opening ceremony. The whole world will see them.’
SASCOC President Barry Hendricks expressed his gratitude for the new sponsorship. ‘We are pleased with the tremendous support corporate South Africa is rendering to us to provide valuable backing for our athletes and our federations and in particular we welcome Veldskoen Shoes on board as our new Team South Africa Olympic and Paralympic Games official off-field sponsor. The sponsorship comes at a special moment as we celebrate the 100-day countdown before the commencement of the Olympic Games.
‘This sponsorship will ensure that our country’s Olympians and Paralympians will showcase Veldskoen as a local brand internationally thereby exhibiting our national pride and sharing in the spirit of being South Africans. Thank you for your commitment and assistance to Team South Africa,’ he added.
The Acting Chief Executive Officer Ravi Govender commented that SASCOC is busy with all aspects to ensure the successful delivery of Team South Africa to the Olympic Games.
‘As we celebrate the 100-days countdown to Olympics, we have made a lot of headway in terms of funding with a few gaps to fill. However, by the end of June, we will be ready to finance the team to participate at the Olympic Games. We can safely say, all systems are in place and with sponsors supporting the Team, we are confident that the delivery of Team South Africa to Tokyo Olympics will be successful,’ Govender said.
The Chef De Mission for Team South Africa, Patience Shikwambana, provided a technical update of the status of the Team and its delivery to the Olympic Games. She covered issues on logistics, qualification and the Tokyo playbook.
Moving to the Covid-19 update, the Chief Medical Officer for Team South Africa, Dr Phatho Zondi, who has also been appointed as the Covid-19 Liaison Officer for Team SA on all Covid-19 Regulations required by Tokyo 2020 for a successful Team Delivery, gave an insight on the Covid-19 procedures.
As the countdown to Olympic Games continues, South Africa is encouraged to work together to bring back the ‘spirit of Ubuntu’. Consequent to all the negative impacts of the Covid-19 Pandemic globally, this is the time as a nation we can shine and rally behind our Team, “Team SA Is because you are, together we can!” Team SA here we come!’
The opening ceremony of the Olympic Games will take place on 23 July and the Games, featuring South Africa’s and the globe’s finest athletes, will run for just over two weeks before ending on 8 August.