Deputy Speaker, South Africa's history in the Olympic Games has endured great unevenness. We were banned under the apartheid regime, then rejoined to take our rightful place among other countries when we achieved liberation. As of today, we have secured three gold medals from two outstanding swimmers, Cameron van der Burgh, for the men's 100m breaststroke, and Chad le Clos, for the men's 200m butterfly event, as well as from our rowing team of James Thompson, Matthew Brittain, Sizwe Ndlovu and John Smith. Cameron also set a new world record when he won the final in 58,46 seconds, while Chad beat the US swimming legend Michael Phelps into second place. They all joined fellow gold medallists from previous Olympics, namely Penny Heyns, Josia Thugwane and our men's freestyle relay team of swimmers Ryk Neethling, Roland Schoeman and the others. We look forward to more medals from the rest of Team SA participating in the Olympics.
South Africa is a sports-loving nation. To ensure that we redress the inequalities of the past, which extended to sports as well, and to develop more sporting talent in our country, the White Paper on Sports and Recreation, as well as the road map, seeks to assist with broadening the base of sports and recreation in South Africa.
South Africa will also participate in the Paralympics in London, which will take place from 29 August to 9 September 2012. We wish all the participants well.