South Africa 2010 to Decide Africa's Fate

The succcess or otherwise of the FIFA World Cup that South Africa is hosting this summer has been described as the likely determinant of whether the African continent has the capacity to host the Olympics.

Ed Hula, editor of Around the Rings magazine that has just named FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter as the person to weild the greatest influence in the Olympic Movement this year, said yesterday that once the World Cup is a success, there was no denying the country the chance to host the 2020 Olympic Games.

"If the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa is a success, the country is clearly in the running for the 2020 Olympics. Rio de Janeiro called for the first Games in South America and succeeded. We could see this happen with Africa," observed the ART editor in the current edition of the magazine.

Interestingly, Hula's observation appears to reinforce the general impression of most members of the Olympic movement within Africa.

Previously, the continent was concidered to lack both the capacity and men to drive a global multi-sports event like the Olympic Games. But Blatter's faith on the South African project has now opened a floodgate of opportunities, that is, if success is achieved this summer with the hosting. Nigeria in 2007 lost the bid to host the 2014 Commonwealth Games to Glasgow. The bid failed principally because members of the Commonwealth Games Federation were not convinced that Abuja nor any other African city has the capacity to host a successful Games.

Blatter while throwing his hat into the ring in support of South Africa for the World Cup, had in the wake of talks of possible taking away the hosting from Mandela's country due to slack in Stadium construction said there were plan B and C. "Plan B is South Africa while Plan C is also South Africa."

It is not impossible that Blatter's running of FIFA may have catapulted him to the top of the annual Around the Rings 'Golden 25' ahead of his International Olympic Committee (IOC) counterpart, Jacques Rogge, who managed the second position. Blatter has served as an IOC member since 1999.

In the past 14 years ATR has listed the most important and powerful figures in the Olympic Movement.

The FIFA President, who is ranked at number 53 in the Forbes' list of the world's most powerful people, was also named by EUROSOCCER as Switzerland's most influential person in November last year.