Why are there so many white coloured athletes for South Africa in the Beijing Olympics?

Question

I'm not being racist or anything but almost half the team for South Africa was white, during the Opening Ceremony! I asked my dad why and he said because rich white people travel there and live there and have businesses for diamond, oil, etc. ...????

Answer 1

actually they only make up about 10% of the population. but they "control" the country

Answer 2

That's nonesense, most people in South Africa are black but the majority of them are very poor. The white South Africans are generally more rich and they could afford to train for the Olympics.

Answer 3

Why does it matter,if it bothers you don't watch

Answer 4

Believe it or not but most South Africans are white just like a lot of people from Europe or people from England are black.  It's something I just learned a few years ago when I moved to DC where there is a lot of different cultures and I made some friends from England as well as South Africa...  They all kind of laughed at me because I had no idea it was like this either.

Answer 5

Majority of people in South Africa happen to be white...

Answer 6

South Africans live in South Africa. Who the f*** cares what colour they are?

Answer 7

yeh wots up with dat.........by d way the whites in southafrica are in the minority, just a small percentage. south africa is a mostly black country, som people were talkin about how its  a mostly white country, just had to clear dat up.......nd also who said most europeans are black, europe has the least amount of black people........also i think nico summed it up nicely. who cares wot d colour of ur skin is as long as ur participating for your county. then again that b.s about the whites in s.a havin more money to train for olympics don't make no sense at all.........there's alot of pple from poor backgrounds dat hav gotten loads of medals..........talent is d key my young friend...

Answer 8

Most South African people are actually white.

Answer 9

South Africa is like British territory.  

Answer 10

The majority of the people are black, but you really need to read up on Apartheid to have a good idea on why and how things there are. The white government had complete control until the mid 1990s. Look up information on Nelson Mandela as well, you might find it interesting some of what you discover as how recent it has been.

Edit: I cannot believe what I see, here are the facts:

Ethnic groups:  black 79.5%, white 9.2%, Coloured 8.9%, Asian 2.5% (2006 est.) from Wikipedia, but link would not paste here so found another one.

Answer 11

Contestants are not based upon the color of skin but talent and skill of the country. As it would seem the best of the best from South Africa just happen to be white.