Namibia wants to channel the oil and gas momentum into sport as well ahead of LA28
The Namibian Olympic Committee wants to take advantage of the period of strong development in the oil and gas industry to create a more sustainable long-term funding model for elite sport, instead of having national team athletes' preparations and the development of the professional support system rely on occasional sponsorships. Namibia National Olympic Committee (NNOC) President Ndeulipula Hamutumwa presented this vision in Windhoek during the fourth edition of the Namibia Oil and Gas Conference and Exhibition, held from 18 to 20 August 2026. In a presentation titled "Beyond the Podium - Leveraging CSI, Oil & Gas and Local Content to Build Namibia's Sporting Excellence Towards LA 2028 and Beyond", he called on energy companies, the government and the broader private sector to view sport as part of economic and social development. The aim is not only to increase the chances of Namibian athletes at the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, but also to build infrastructure, professional capacity and career pathways that would remain available to athletes after the end of their competitive careers. At the heart of the proposal is a national high-performance sports centre, alongside systematic investment in sports medicine, science, technology, nutrition, psychology, rehabilitation and high-quality coaching staff.
"Beyond the Podium" as a call for long-term partnership
According to a report by The Namibian, Hamutumwa told the conference that the upcoming changes in the energy sector should also be measured by how much they improve people's lives, rather than only by the number of barrels produced or the level of future revenues. His message is primarily directed at corporate investment and the corporate social responsibility of companies entering Namibia's oil and gas sector. In doing so, the NNOC is seeking a transition from one-off donations to multi-year partnerships with measurable results, so that sports funding can be planned throughout an entire Olympic cycle. Hamutumwa stressed that elite performance is created years before the actual appearance at the Olympic Games, through high-quality training, international competitions, nutrition, medical support, psychology, analytics, research and technology. That is precisely why LA28 represents a concrete deadline for the NNOC, but not the ultimate objective of the entire project.
As part of this concept, an NNOC Foundation has also been proposed, namely a separate, professionally managed mechanism through which private-sector investments could be specifically directed toward athlete development and high performance. According to Hamutumwa's presentation, such a model should increase transparency, continuity and the ability to plan over the long term. Instead of assistance for individual national team athletes being activated only when a major competition approaches, funds would be directed toward developing a system that includes coaches, doctors, physiotherapists, sports scientists, nutritionists, psychologists, data analysts and other experts. In this way, the NNOC is trying to position sport as part of a broader value chain rather than as an expense funded only after other priorities. Such an approach links sporting performance with education, health, employment, tourism, technology and youth development.
National high-performance centre as the key infrastructure project
The most concrete proposal concerns the establishment of a national high-performance sports centre. Hamutumwa stated that the centre should bring together sports medicine, sports science, strength and conditioning, nutrition, rehabilitation, psychology, performance analysis, research and innovation. At the same time, he warned that the building alone would not produce champions without sustainable funding for programmes, equipment, technology and professional staff. In other words, the NNOC is not merely seeking a new facility, but an institution that would give athletes continuous access to services that are part of everyday preparation in leading sports systems. Such a centre could be particularly important for a smaller sporting nation such as Namibia, where it is difficult for every individual federation to independently develop its own laboratory, medical service and team of specialised experts.
The proposal also includes a component for transition after a sporting career. Hamutumwa wants the system to provide athletes with education, vocational training and links to the labour market, including sectors that will develop in parallel with energy investments. In this way, the idea of "Beyond the Podium" literally extends beyond the medal and competitive result: during an active career, an athlete would receive top-level professional support while simultaneously preparing for life after professional sport. For a country with extremely high unemployment rates, such an argument also has a social dimension. According to Namibia Statistics Agency data from the 2023 population census, the unemployment rate stood at 36.9 percent, while youth unemployment was approximately 44 percent. Hamutumwa directly linked these indicators to the need for sport to be developed as a source of employment, skills and professional careers.
Sport is already embedded in the national development plan
The NNOC is not attempting to build its case solely on Olympic ambitions. Namibia's Sixth National Development Plan, known as NDP6, which covers the period from 2025/2026 to 2029/2030, defines sport as one of the tools for sustainable socioeconomic development, peace and social inclusion. According to the official document of the National Planning Commission, the goal is to increase sport's contribution to employment from an initial 1.0 percent to 3.5 percent by 2030. The plan envisages improving multisport infrastructure at all levels, strengthening the professionalisation and commercialisation of sport, and developing an integrated sports data management system. Hamutumwa's call to the energy sector therefore fits into an already established government policy that seeks to link sport with jobs, entrepreneurship and skills development.
This framework also explains why the NNOC speaks about "local capabilities" rather than only "local content". In the oil and gas industry, the concept of local content usually refers to domestic labour, suppliers, procurement and knowledge transfer. Hamutumwa wants to extend the same logic to human-capital development through sport. Coaches, doctors, physiotherapists, analysts, event organisers, broadcasting specialists, logistics experts and technology professionals can create jobs outside the competition itself. In this sense, sport is presented as a sector capable of generating economic activity rather than merely consuming public- and private-sector funds.
Oil potential is substantial, but production revenue is not yet a reality
An important distinction exists between the rapid development of Namibia's oil sector and the actual inflow of revenues from commercial production. Following major deepwater discoveries in the Orange Basin since 2022, Namibia has positioned itself as one of Africa's most closely watched emerging oil regions, but as of 26 August 2026, the main discoveries had still not entered commercial production. For that reason, the NNOC's proposal currently relates primarily to company investment, corporate social responsibility, development of local capacity and future partnerships, rather than to the redistribution of already realised government oil revenues.
Among the most important projects are Venus and Mopane in the Orange Basin. TotalEnergies stated in February 2026 that Venus was a fully appraised field with approximately 750 million barrels of oil equivalent in resources in the planned first phase and that development could reach a production plateau of about 150,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, with first oil targeted for around 2030. However, a final investment decision had still not been made by the end of the conference in Windhoek. As The Namibian reported on 23 August, TotalEnergies representative Carlos Menezes said that technical preparations had been completed and that a project decision should be made before 2027, following the completion of negotiations with the Namibian authorities. For Mopane, a major discovery in licence PEL83, TotalEnergies and Galp are planning additional exploration and appraisal drilling, while a potential final investment decision had previously been indicated for 2028.
This timeline further reinforces the NNOC's message that sport should be included in the discussion about local benefits early enough. The fourth Namibia Oil and Gas Conference and Exhibition itself was organised under the theme "From Decision to Dividend: Making Namibia's Oil Work for Namibians", with an emphasis on local participation, supplier development, infrastructure and long-term economic benefits. Hamutumwa's presentation expanded that discussion to sport and health. Instead of waiting for production to begin and only then debating the distribution of benefits, the Olympic committee wants to build partnerships already during the investment phase that would leave professional, educational and infrastructural capacity in the country.
LA28 as a deadline for building a system, not only for winning a medal
The Olympic Games in Los Angeles will be held from 14 to 30 July 2028, according to the official schedule of the LA28 organisers. Less than two years remain until the start of the Games, which for athletes in Olympic disciplines means that qualification cycles, selection of international competitions, training camps and medical monitoring are already part of ongoing preparations. The NNOC therefore warns that any funding cannot be used effectively if it arrives only immediately before the national team departs. In sports where results are decided by hundredths of a second, kilograms, centimetres or a single tactical decision, the difference is often created through the quality of everyday work and access to specialised support. Namibia's plan therefore seeks to shift funding from a "major competition appearance" model toward a year-round high-performance programme model.
Namibia already has a history of Olympic success demonstrating how much individual elite athletes can shape national sport. Frank Fredericks won two silver medals each in the 100 and 200 metres at Barcelona 1992 and Atlanta 1996. Christine Mboma added Namibia's fifth Olympic medal by winning silver in the 200 metres at the Tokyo 2020 Games, held in 2021, where according to official World Athletics results she ran 21.81 seconds. These results show that the country can produce world-class athletes, but also how historically concentrated its medal success has been among a very small number of individuals. This is precisely where the NNOC sees a reason to invest in a system that would make elite performance less dependent on individual talent and exceptional circumstances.
The broader argument includes health, education and productivity
In his presentation, Hamutumwa also linked sport to public health. According to World Health Organization data, 31 percent of adults worldwide do not reach the recommended level of physical activity, while among adolescents the proportion is around 80 percent. The WHO estimates that if physical inactivity is not reduced, almost 500 million new cases of preventable diseases could occur between 2020 and 2030, with approximately 300 billion US dollars in direct costs to health systems. The organisation also warns that these estimates do not include all indirect effects, such as loss of productivity. For the NNOC, this is an additional argument that investment in sport should not be viewed only as a matter of medals and national-team prestige.
Such an approach can link elite sport with mass participation in physical activity, school and university sport, and the development of professionals who can work in healthcare, rehabilitation and the fitness industry. Nevertheless, Hamutumwa's proposal is for now primarily a strategic call rather than an announced financial package with defined amounts, deadlines and signed commitments from energy companies. It has not yet been officially confirmed how much private-sector capital could be directed toward the proposed centre, when construction might begin or what the final governance model would be. These details will be crucial for assessing whether the concept can be transformed from a conference appeal into long-term sports infrastructure.
The key question will be continuity after Los Angeles
The biggest test for the initiative will not only be the number of athletes who qualify for LA28, but whether a model capable of surviving beyond a single Olympic cycle is established by then. If the NNOC succeeds in linking energy companies, the government, educational institutions and the private sector into a stable system, the benefits could extend beyond the Olympic team itself. A high-performance centre could serve different federations, create demand for domestic experts and provide young athletes with a clearer development path from talent in the school system to the international level. At the same time, education and employment programmes could reduce the risk of athletes being left without professional prospects after the end of their careers.
Namibian sport is therefore now facing an unusual opportunity: to try to turn part of the economic momentum developing around a potentially major energy industry into lasting social infrastructure before the first major deepwater project even begins producing oil. The NNOC has clearly set LA28 as a time reference point, but the message of "Beyond the Podium" goes beyond results in Los Angeles. Success will be measured not only by medals, but also by whether new investment leaves behind better coaches, more accessible sports medicine, more modern technology, sustainable funding and genuine opportunities for education and employment for generations of athletes after 2028.
Sources:
- The Namibian - report on Ndeulipula Hamutumwa's presentation, the "Beyond the Podium" concept, the NNOC Foundation and the proposal for a national high-performance centre (link)
- Namibia Oil and Gas Conference and Exhibition - official 2026 conference programme and confirmation of Hamutumwa's presentation in Windhoek (link)
- National Planning Commission of Namibia - NDP6, sport development objectives and the target to increase its contribution to employment by 2030 (link)
- Namibia Statistics Agency - official unemployment and youth unemployment data from the 2023 Population and Housing Census Labour Force Report (link)
- TotalEnergies - data on development plans for the Venus and Mopane fields and expected investment and production timelines (link)
- The Namibian - current status of the final investment decision for Venus following the conference in August 2026 (link)
- World Health Organization - global data on physical inactivity and estimated healthcare costs through 2030 (link)
- World Athletics - official result of the women's 200 metres final at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and Christine Mboma's silver medal (link)
- LA28 - official dates of the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles (link)