African News Agency
Despite South Africa collecting three medals at the IAAF World Championship in Beijing, which ended on Sunday, there are lingering concerns over the mismanagement of athletes.
Anaso Jobodwana, who would later go on to claim bronze in the men’s 200m, deliberately false-started in his 100m heat to be disqualified. Jobodwana did this to ensure he could focus on the 200m, after Athletics South Africa (ASA) had entered the athlete in the shorter event.
Then it was the turn of the 4x100m relay team, who stumbled in their first heat at a changeover to be eliminated. The team of Jobodwana, Akani Simbine, Henricho Bruintjies and Antonio Alkana could have had a realistic chance to make the final, but a lack of preparation ended their hopes.
If ASA had genuinely intended on being competitive in the relays, they could have sent a team to compete at the World Relays and the Warri Relays.
The lack of foresight by the federation should take the majority of the blame as the South African team were clearly underprepared when it came to competing with the best in the world.
The South African team arrived in Beijing three days before the event, and drew criticism for not arriving earlier to acclimatise to conditions better.
A former World Championship gold medallist in 2009 in the women’s 800m, Caster Semenya, failed to make it through her semi-final, coming last in 2 minutes 3.18 seconds. In her defence, she ran a season’s best 1:59.59 – her best time in almost two years – but her lack of fitness was apparent when competing the day after her sub-two-minute exploits in the heat, as she was about three seconds off the seventh-placed athlete.
Semenya, though also affected by injury in the last couple of seasons, is failing to build on her phenomenal time of 1:55.59 she ran as an 18-year-old when she claimed her gold at the World Championships six years ago. ASA would do well to provide the athlete with the guidance she clearly needs to reach her former world-conquering heights.
In the men’s long jump, Ruswahl Samaai, Zarck Visser and Khotso Mokoena did not make the final, after failing to complete jumps over 8m.
Overall, the three medals South Africa collected was as much as South Africa could have expected. Wayde van Niekerk smashed the African record to take gold in the men’s 400m in a time of 43.48.
Then Jobodwana crossed the line in a South African record of 19.87 in the 200 to claim third place, behind sprinting juggernauts Usain Bolt of Jamaica, who won in 19.55, and Justin Gatlin of America in 19.74.
On the final day, it was the turn of Sunette Viljoen in the women’s javelin, where she claimed bronze with a 65.79m throw.
Ultimately, it was individual outstanding performances which helped South Africa finish 13th on the medal table, but it would be remiss of ASA to not take note of how they can better manage their team if they to are to improve in future events.
Medals table:
(gold, silver, bronze, total)
1 Kenya 7-6-3-16
2 Jamaica 7-2-3-12
3 United States 6-6-6-18
4 Great Britain 4-1-2-7
5 Ethiopia 3-3-2-8
6 Poland 3-1-4-8
7 Canada 2-3-3-8
7 Germany 2-3-3-8
9 Russia 2-1-1-4
10 Cuba 2-1-0-3
11 China 1-7-1-9
12 Netherlands 1-1-1-3
13 South Africa 1-0-2-3
14 Belarus 1-0-1-2
15 Colombia 1-0-0-1
15 Czech Republic 1-0-0-1
15 Eritrea 1-0-0-1
15 Spain 1-0-0-1
15 Slovak Republic 1-0-0-1
20 Australia 0-2-0-2