Sponsorship for Paris Olympics 2024 | Christopher Baxter is in the South African National Rowing team and is headed to the 2024 Paris Olympics
SA Sports Press reports on all Sports in South Africa, big or small, national or local, and we publish it online. On our website, we have a page where people can submit sponsorship appeals. We don't sponsor, but what we do is publish the athletes' information on the website and then the public and or corporates hopefully come to an agreement on sponsorship. As sportspeople, we know in South Africa, sponsorship for our athletes is a big problem.
A lot of South African athletes have to pay their own expenses in every way, from training, eating, competing, travel expenses, Everything to represent South Africa and to be ambassadors for South Africa.
By publishing athletes' sponsor requests and doing video interviews, we hope to get them some exposure and hopefully, it helps get our athletes on the way to becoming World and Olympic champions.
Tonight we have with us Christopher Baxter, who is currently in the South African National Rowing team and is headed to the 2024 Paris Olympics
Christopher, good evening. Thanks for joining us this evening.
Christopher Baxter: Thank you very much for having me.
SA Sports Press: Can you give us a bit of a background on where your rowing started and where it's going?
Christopher Baxter:Yeah, so I started rowing in 2014 and I attended King Edward VII School and started rowing that at high school and I represented South Africa. I received my South African junior colours in 2017 and 2018. The following year I joined the the RMB National Squad and I represented the SA u23 team in Sarasota at the 2019 World Rowing Under 23 Championships.
Then COVID happened and then in 2021 I had a few medical problems so I wasn't in the running for the team. .I came back at the end of 2021 for the 2022 season I went on to again represent SA at u23 level where we won the gold medal and broke the u23 mens pair world record. I then also got the call-up to the mens senior team where I represented South Africa in the Czech Republic in the men's coxless four and then last year in 2023 I represented South Africa again at the Senior World Champs and we came sixth in the final and qualified for the Olympic Games.
SA Sports Press: Obviously it's a team sport, so you know you guys trained hard as a team and worked hard as a team. What was it like when you found out you had qualified for the Olympic games?
Christopher Baxter:Yeah, hard to really explain. But yeah, probably one of the the best feelings that I've had in my sporting career. I mean, having a goal since I was in school to represent South Africa at the top end of the competition. Being the Olympic Games, It was really a dream come true, to take that step and qualify the boat for the Olympic Games.
SA Sports Press:Yeah, I can imagine. I think every sportsman in the world, wants to represent their country, especially at the Olympic Games. You know, everybody watches it. You don't have to be interested as such in the specific sport, you know, it gets the country going and backing their team in everything that you guys do, you know. We all looking forward to supporting South Africa.
SA Sports Press:How close were your times in the top six?
Christopher Baxter:I think the top of the field was quite close and my partner John Smith and I didn't have the best race that we were hoping for. So we were a little bit off the pace of the pack but we are definitely putting in all the work now to try and close that gap and take a step onto the podium.
SA Sports Press:And you're still partnered with John so you're doing just the two of you?
Christopher Baxter:Yeah so we currently training together in the pair. It seems like it's going to be that way for the Olympics. Nothing, nothing official yet. But yeah, we training together in
SA Sports Press:Continuity is important for you guys to know each other.
Christopher Baxter:Yeah, yeah.
SA Sports Press:Tell me, your training routine. First of all, are you a student? Are you studying at the moment or are you're working? What are you doing currently?
Christopher Baxter:I'm a full-time athlete, I've tried the rowing and the working thing, didn't really work out too well and found i had to either be focused on the rowing or on the work and couldn't really do both at the same time. So currently I am a full-time athlete.. I did complete a higher certificate in sports science and education in 2020. OK, yeah.
SA Sports Press:I don't think that if you're going to the Olympics, you can't be working and training and it's got to be full time training and keeping your mind on the goal, hopefully, we also through this interview you get some sponsorship and take your mind off the money matters and you can keep it on the training and giving of your best.
SA Sports Press:So what is your training regime?
Christopher Baxter:So we are training between six and seven days a week and also depending on the day it's either two or three sessions a day. So morning sessions start at around 7:30. And then we'll have an afternoon session around say noon. And then if we have a third session it's later in the day
SA Sports Press:So it's not all on the water, it's in the gym as well.
Christopher Baxter:Yeah. So we've got we've got 3 gym daysand then in between the gym and the rowing and we'll have some land-based training on the Ogo. And then obviously the runs and the occasional white bikes
SA Sports Press:And who's doing all the coaching?
Christopher Baxter:The the head coach is Tiago Loureiro and then we have the u23 head coach Thato Mokoena
SA Sports Press:Diet. Do they have you on a proper diet or you know the cheat days and the pasta and the pizza days or yeah, how have you handled that?
Christopher Baxter:So there's no set diet. Just try and get as much nutrients as we can in especially with the long sessions on the water burning up over 1000 calories in a session and yeah, so having 2-3 sessions a day is quite heavy on the body, so just trying to to replace all the lost calories and but yeah no set diet.
SA Sports Press:Your costs, your costs to compete overseas Do you know what costs are being covered by SASCOC or SA Rowing?
Christopher Baxter:So thankfully we've got quite a big a big sponsor for the teams in RMB and they normally will cover the cost of of our flight and our accommodation and then obviously the boat hire and everything. As far as I am aware, I'm not too sure of any funding from SASCOC I again, I'm not. I'm not aware of the financial aspect.
SA Sports Press:Sure, that's not your focus, you're focussing on rowing.
SA Sports Press: So what, what costs are you personally incurring not being working? I mean you are buying the food to train etc These are all costs to be considered.
Christopher Baxter:Yeah. So I mean there's there's the everyday cost of food and petrol. Then yeah, some of the camps. Some of the athletes are having to to cover the cost for that and then yeah, just mostly the cost of living and living essentials.
SA Sports Press: And what costs are you going to be incurring overseas or something or I mean stuff like you get a daily. Where you living cross or something like that?
Christopher Baxter:Yeah, so, So overseas, well hopefully we'll get food from the hotels we are staying at yeah, yeah and but then I think. Again, the day-to-day things that we'd be looking at doing, word would probably come out of our own pockets
SA Sports Press:And it's the Olympics, they're not so long to go.
Christopher Baxter:Yeah, they end of end of July. Yeah.
SA Sports Press:And you guys are early in the program?
Christopher Baxter:I think we're actually one of the 1st events. I think we start on the 27th of July,
SA Sports Press:OK. So it's like April, May, June. But yeah, that's brilliant, but it's just, you know. Gives you something to focus on. And the other guys in the team, are they pretty much in the same boat as you.( financially)?
Christopher Baxter:Yeah,pretty much everyone In the team is self-funded, and you know again we do have, and are very lucky we have a big team sponsor yeah from RMB. And they have been phenomenal in their support. yeah, those living expenses are all coming out of all of the athletes' pockets.
SA Sports Press: And family. What would you do without that? The way family, it's important to have that, not only the mental backup, you know, the physical, going to training is tough. Training is not tough. It's the getting out of bed and going to training. Yeah, when you're training, you do it because you enjoy it, you know. But you know, having the family backup is so important
Support Chris by donating on his Backabuddy Page
https://www.backabuddy.co.za/campaign/olympic-games-paris-2024
Or email him directly on
SA Team, SASCOC, 2024, Rowing, sports sponsorship, Paris Olympic Games, Christopher Baxter