Khotso Mokoena excited to serve as IOC ambassador

The Games will take place from 31 October to 14 November. 

Mokoena was unveiled by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as part of its Believe in Sport campaign, which aims to raise awareness of the threat of competition manipulation among athletes and officials. 

Mokoena says he is excited about the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of young athletes.

"I think it's a great opportunity to be able to go and advocate to young people on safety majors that have to do with their careers. Essentially this unit that I'm sitting on as an ambassador is a unit where we help athletes understand their decision making when it comes to their competition," Mokoena said.

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The 41-year-old Beijing Olympic Games long jump silver medallist says young athletes can easily be influenced by money.

Mokoena says he will focus on educating them about the influence of money and other dangers they may face in sport.

"For example, young people today are easily manipulated by money you know and to perform, some agent or somebody might come to you and say, look I've R100 000 for you to lose the match, make sure that your team loses, make sure that you lose the match,” he explained.

“So, that's manipulation for example, I mean you can make any type of scenario, I'm sure you've experienced lots of these scenarios where competition is being manipulated. 

“So, basically that's what the unit is about so that we can safeguard our athletes because some athletes do go through suicide after these things happen to them. “Especially competition manipulation, I mean the biggest one in South Africa we've ever had was the case with Hanse Cronje, that's the biggest manipulation competition we've had in South Africa. 

“So, basically I'm just making these examples so you get to see what this thing is all about."