Hajera Kajee, chef de mission of South African Olympic delegation, said there was nothing to complain about the organization job of the Beijing Olympics after their flag-raising ceremony in the Olympic Village in Beijing on Thursday.
"The whole Games is awesome and the Olympic Village is fantastic," said Kajee. "There is nothing to complain about. Though there is some challenges sometimes in communications, we all understand because English is not your first language. Every NOC assistant and everybody is incredible."
South Africa sent a 225-member delegation to Beijing, which is its biggest and also strongest-ever. Among them, 125 athletes will compete in 21 sports.
"All journalists asked me how many medals we can win and it is so difficult to predict," said Kajee. "I hope we will do better than in Atlanta. Let's just wait and see."
Roland Schoeman won three medals of different colours at the 2004 Athens Games. He was a member of the South African men's 4x100m freestyle relay team that set a world record on its way to winning gold. He also won a silver medal in the 100m freestyle and bronze in the 50m freestyle.
"Schoeman is doing very well and he is at his time," said Kajee. "He looks like good."
After debuting in the Summer Games in 1904 in St. Louis, South Africa took part in every Olympic Games until 1960 in Rome, when it was banned for the policy of apartheid.
South Africa was welcomed back into the Olympic family, returning at the 1992 Barcelona Games.
South Africa won its first gold medal at the 1908 London Games when Reggie Walker claimed the men's 100m title in athletics.
Since its return to the Olympic arena in 1992, South Africa has enjoyed considerable success in swimming, and Penny Heyns claimed the African nation's first gold medal in Atlanta four years later, and also became the first woman to complete the breaststroke double at the Olympic Games. Heyns also won a bronze medal in Sydney four years later.
(Xinhua News Agency August 7, 2008)