In 1995 Egypt matched South Africa's overall haul of 154 medals, but couldn't match SA's gold and silver medal tally. Four years later, on home soil, South Africa upped its haul to 184 medals, 71 of which were gold.
Tougher assignment
This time round - in Abuja, starting 4 October 2003 - Team South Africa will be going for a hat-trick. It is sure to be a tougher assignment than the previous two.
The 1995 and 1999 Games took place in southern Africa; this time round
they take place in West Africa, in the Nigerian city of Abuja. Conditions will not be so familiar to South Africa's athletes.
Also, the All Africa Games are not held in the same regard as events like the Olympic Games, World Athletics Championships, or Commonwealth Games. They have so far failed to capture the imagination of the people of Africa, and until they do so will not draw the best athletes on the continent.
Missing stars
After an excellent showing at the World Athletics Championships in Paris in late August, South Africa finds itself without many of its star performers, which will no doubt be the fate of many other African countries.
With the addition of the World Championships to the 2003 athletics calendar, many athletes focused their efforts this year on Paris. It has meant a long, extended season - as has happened in many other sports, with seasons being extended to accommodate the All Africa Games. It has proved a
bridged too far for many athletes, who will not be making the trip to Abuja.
In Paris in August, South Africa's athletes finished seventh on the medals table, tied with Kenya for second among African countries behind Ethiopia, who finished third overall due to their strength in middle- and long-distance events.
Had it not been for a fall at the last hurdle in the men's 400 metres hurdles by Llewellyn Herbert, South Africa would most likely have added another silver medal to its haul of two golds, one silver, and one bronze.
In Abuja, high jump world champions Hestrie Cloete and Jacques Freitag will be missing. Cloete, the international female athlete of the year, is nursing some injuries after her lengthy season, while Freitag has a right ankle injury - to the same foot that was operated on and kept him out of athletics for 10 months last year.
The two world champions are, however, only the tip of the iceberg. Other likely medal winners who won't be in Abuja
include Commonwealth 110m hurdles champion Shaun Bownes, world championship 400m hurdles finalist Surita Febbraio, former Olympic bronze medal winner and world championship discus finalist Frantz Kruger, former world championship silver medal winner in the 400m hurdles Llewellyn Herbert, and former world leader in the shot putt Janus Robberts.
Then there are other missing stars, such as current World Student Games 200m champion Leigh Julius and 2001 World Student Games 400m hurdles champion Alwyn Myburgh.
Opportunities
Athletics is the showcase event at the All Africa Games, and a sport in which the continent's athletes excel internationally - it's a shame, then, that there will be so many absentees in Abuja.
That said, the absence of top stars presents other up-and-coming athletes with an opportunity to make a mark, and it will be interesting to see who is able to lift themselves to the next level by shining in
Nigeria.
Athletes will compete in 22 different sporting disciplines in Abuja, and in some of these South Africa can expect to do very well. The country should dominate in the aquatics events, pick up the lions' share of medals in the athletics (based on its strength in the field events), and dominate the gymnastics, hockey, softball, baseball and cycling.
Nigeria should fare very well in the weightlifting, a discipline in which it picked up the vast majority of its gold medals in 1999, and also in table tennis. Egypt will relish the squash competition.
All in all, though, South Africa has a good chance of defending its status as the best all-round team in Africa.
Concerns have been raised that Abuja is not properly prepared to host the Games, despite spending hundreds of millions of dollars on building the impressive Abuja National Stadium. Organisers are promising the best Games since they were first held in 1965, but warm-up events have not run smoothly,
and Nigerian journalists have been critical of the organisers' efforts.
We'll soon know whose version of events is correct – the All Africa Games start on 4 October, running through to 18 October.
