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And there were calls from across the media spectrum for the country to overcome the problems that led to Team South Africa's worst performance at the Olympics since readmission after apartheid.
The 134-strong team - the largest South Africa has sent to any Olympic Games, pre- and post-isolation - has only a silver medal to show for its efforts, courtesy of long jumper Kgotso Mokoena.
Most newspapers complained that South Africa does not have a properly structured sports development programme which is able to produce a pool of quality athletes capable of competing in international competitions.
The Citizen said the truth of the matter is that the country's men and women have been outplayed in Beijing.
"As disappointing as it may be we need to acknowledge that the days of Penny Heyns, Roland Schoeman, Ryk Neethling, Darian Townsend and Lyndon Ferns may have come and gone. Our so-called big name athletes have so far been little fish in a big pond, although Natalie du Toit came close to redeeming us when she managed a 16th position in the 10km swim."
The Cape Argus noted that South Africa is currently ranked 63rd in the world in terms of medal placing "and, should the medal count remain unchanged, it would mean our worst performance since readmission at the Barcelona Games in 1992".
South Africa won two medals in 1992, five in Atlanta in 1996, five in Sydney in 2000 and six in Athens four years ago - the latter from a squad of 106 athletes.
Business Day paid tribute to Mokoena who shut his critics up with a silver medal in the long-jump final in a packed national stadium.
"It was a performance that at last brought great relief to the beleaguered Team SA, which has been heavily criticised after more than a week of poor performance s and faced the threat of going home empty handed."
The Sowetan took comfort from the fact that the rest of the continent is producing performances to be proud of.
"Most Africans are or should be proud that Nigeria's Super Eaglets have made it to the final of the four-yearly spectacle. They come up against defending champions Argentina who blasted fellow South Americans Brazil 3-0 in the semi-finals.
"The men's African representatives in football were doing it big for the continent, winning against illustrious opponents from the group stages."
Nigeria lost painfully to Argentina 0-1 in the final played on Saturday.
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