Malherbe belts ASA selection

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Malherbe lashes out at ASA for losing status

02/08/2010, 19:18

Arnaud Malherbe, acting head of the Athletics South Africa (ASA) athletes’ commission, lashed out at the federation on Monday after the national team dropped to third on the medals table at the African Athletics Championships in Nairobi, Kenya which ended on Sunday.

“I am nothing less than disgusted,” Malherbe said. “For the first time in a decade, South Africa are not the African champions. The current administration at ASA have truly turned us into a third rate country.”

Malherbe has been at loggerheads with ASA assistant administrator Richard Stander over the changes in selection criteria this season, which Stander believes will improve the nation’s standing at international championships.

Stander said in April all athletes would have to reach the qualifying standards in their events during a six-week window period stretching through July if they were to compete at global and continental championships. His argument was that athletes who qualified in South Africa’s summer would not perform well later in the year.

Malherbe was joined by administrators, officials, athletes and coaches in voicing their disapproval of the new criteria, which they believe unnecessarily forces athletes to peak three times in a season.

The national selectors omitted a number of medal contenders from the final team for the African Championships and Malherbe has demanded reasons why they were not included.

Having placed top of the table at every continental championships since 2002, South Africa led from day one in Nairobi but were overtaken and eventually well beaten by hosts Kenya and Nigeria on the final day.

The team earned six gold, seven silver and six bronze medals. In Addis Ababa in 2008 they had secured 12 gold, two silver and eight bronze medals, easily beating Nigeria who placed second.

Malherbe, the South African record holder in the men’s 400m sprint, said the athletes who competed in Nairobi had performed “admirably” but had been let down by the selectors who left medal contenders at home, including nine athletes who are ranked among the top five in their events in Africa.

He said he felt the federation had given away as many as 13 medals.

“As it turns out, we are not a third rate country after all,” Malherbe said, “we just have third rate selectors and administrators.”

Stander refused to comment but said Sapa could talk to over 300 coaches who were gathering at a symposium in Bloemfontein this week to find out why the team had not retained their No 1 status on the continent.

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SA’s poor showing at African Champs defended
Aug 3, 2010 1:45 PM | By Wesley Botton, Sapa

Athletics South Africa (ASA) assistant administrator Richard Stander, defended the changes in the federation’s selection criteria, as well as the nation’s below-par performance at the World Athletics Championships in Nairobi, Kenya.

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L.J. van Zyl ® and Cornel Fredericks of South Africa compete in the men’s final 400m hurdles race at the 2010 African Athletics Championship in the Nyayo stadium in Nairobi.

Arnaud Malherbe, the acting head of ASA’s athletes’ commission, hit out at the federation’s interim administration on Monday, saying he was “disgusted” after South Africa placed third for their worst performance at the continental championships in 10 years.

Stander, however, said they had set out a long-term plan for success at the World Athletics Championships in Daegu next year and the 2012 Olympic Games in London, which would involve sacrificing medals at less significant championships in order to raise the level of performance at major global events.

“While ASA’s focus is on delivering athletes that can produce medal-winning performances at next year’s IAAF World Championships and at the 2012 Olympics, the African Championships event was a stepping stone towards reaching this objective,” Stander said.

"In fact, we set a target of winning 14 medals in Nairobi and returned with 19, so we are pleased with the results.

“We believe that ASA is in the process of raising the bar in a direction back to where the sport was on the international scene 10 years ago, whereby we are able to occupy a position among the top 10 nations in the world.”

When he announced the changes in criteria in April, which included the introduction of a window period during which athletes would have to qualify for international championships, Stander said the nation would begin to see the results at the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi in October.

Complaints poured in, however, after possible medal contenders were omitted from the team for the World Junior Championships in Moncton, Canada last month and the continental senior championships.

Stander said over 320 coaches and officials would have a chance to discuss the new criteria, as well as possible amendments, at a symposium in Bloemfontein later this week.

“This weekend’s coaches symposium will be the platform where coaches can voice their opinions on selection criteria matters in a bid to find a workable solution which will allow for our athletes to be best prepared for next year’s World Championships and the next Olympics,” he said.