Viewers get gold medallist for Olympic Games

Among the plethora of programming scheduled for the London Olympics across the respective TV channels, SuperSport has secured Olympians Ryk Neethling, Carl Lewis, Dame Kelly Holmes and Wilfred Bungei to report from this year’s games. They will feature in Olympic Games Insight, which is presented by Nicole Flint and Udo Carelse. Debashine Thangevelo caught up with Neethling to find out what we can expect from him…

WITH the Wimbledon mania over, sport enthusiasts are looking forward to catching the excitement of the London Olympic Games.

One of the shows viewers can anticipate is Olympic Games Insight, which will be screened on SuperSport. Aside from Nicole Flint and Udo Carelse presenting the show, Olympians Ryk Neethling (swimming), Carl Lewis, Dame Kelly Holmes and Wilfred Bungei (all athletics) will be sharing their expertise commenting from the games.

Neethling says he called SuperSport at the beginning of the year and enquired about their plans to cover the Games.

“They called back and said they would be delighted to make me a part of it. And I feel honoured to be able to be a part of the team,” he says.

With each Olympian using their expertise to cover the event, Neethling says: “Having been at the Olympics four times, I understand the pressure. They (the athletes) have sacrificed and worked hard for four years.

“The pressure associated with that is tremendous.

“I want to give viewers a feel of what it is like. Basically, it is going to be a preview and then a wrap of the day’s events. I’ll also try and get comments from South Africans living in London.”

Neethling says he is confident this year’s Games will be better than Beijingbecause of the “stringent qualification procedures”.

He says: “This has been the hardest process by far for the guys to get in.”

On a personal front, I asked Neethling about his career prospects.

“I must say I have transitioned from sport into business. And I am happy with what I’m doing. I am looking forward to this new role. The wine business is one aspect of what we do.

“We have a property business, a construction company, a nice restaurant – I’m the marketing director of all of that. That’s a lot of portfolios. And I do quite a bit of public speaking.”

Neethling says he is looking forward to seeing Cameron van der Burg swim.

On his foray into TV commentating, he offers: “Everything I have done in my life has been to not make it a once-off thing. I have been with some of my sponsors for 10 years. Hopefully, it will turn into something bigger. I don’t have any big ambitions. I’m just going to do my best.”

• Olympic Games Insight, nightly on the Gold Channel (SuperSport 4) from July 27.