Sam Ramsamy is back in town from Copenhagen. He was there as South Africa's sole member of the International Olympic Committee's 55-person Executive Board, its most important and influential body, effectively the inner sanctum.
Ramsamy would have voted in the decisions that awarded the 2016 Olympics to Rio de Janeiro and granted Olympic status to rugby and golf on a trial basis. In short, he is an important and influential man.
These are the kind of guys that we ink-stained pursuers of piping hot news enjoy talking to because they say things that are both important and influential. So I asked him what was cooking and he introduced me to a mouth-watering prospect.
In July 2011, the next IOC session (like the United Nations, the IOC doesn't have 'meetings' but 'sessions') will be staged in Durban, the first time that the IOC hierarchy will convene on the African continent.
It is at this session that the Executive Board will decide on the host city for the 2018 Winter Olympics. Early frontrunners are Munich in Germany, Pyeongchang in South Korea, and the French resort of Annecy, but the deadline for official entries closed last night, so there may be a few more by the time you read this.
What we South Africans really care about, however, are the Summer Olympics, and that's why we should be excited by the IOC coming to Durban because they should see a city that is perfectly positioned to host the Olympic Games following the business of 2010. They may, of course, encounter deputations from Cape Town and Johannesburg, who are also quite keen to play hosts to the greatest show on earth.
Indeed, this column's sources in deepest Egoli suggest that, as we speak, Deloitte and Touche are conducting a feasibility study on behalf of the Gauteng Government to measure Joburg's early preparedness.
Ramsamy didn't wish to comment on that juicy morsel, pointing out that any Olympic bid by South Africa must first be motivated by our own Olympic Committee, known by its acronym Sascoc, and fully supported by the South African Government, who will have to foot the lion's share of the bill.
Still, it is clear that things are going on and that the most important and influential people in the IOC heading for Durban in less than two years could have some interesting consequences. Ramsamy, no doubt, will make it his business to persuade as many of his Executive Board colleagues as possible to make the trip.
And when could we reasonably expect to host the Olympics? Well, 2020 is a possibility, but remember that 2016 has already been awarded to a developing nation in the southern hemisphere, so chances are the northern hemisphere will be next in line. Ramsamy does suggest, however, that South Africa could use a 2020 bid as a "toe dipping exercise".
At this stage, the best likelihood is 2024 which is a bit long for me to wait, but seems like a reasonable date to pencil in for Africa's first Olympic Games.