NC stadiums need shake-up
THE NORTHERN CAPE is one of two provinces that do not have stadia that meet Athletics South Africa (ASA) and International Amateur Athletics Federations (IAAF) standards to host high level competitions.
This assertion was made in a circular by ASA when it advised its provincial affiliates about far reaching plans to ready the country for participation in the upcoming Olympics Games set for Tokyo, Japan in 2020.
Mpumalanga is the other province which has no stadia certified by ASA or the IAAF for stadia which meet international criteria. According to the ASA circular South Africa only has 18 athletics tracks that comply with international requirements.
The highest bracket
In terms of ranking only tracks in Bloemfontein, Paarl and Pietermaritzburg are classified in the highest bracket being Class 1. Most metropoles and cities have Class 2 facilities.
In the circular ASA announced that in its preparations for the Olympic Games, the federation will to a great extent rely on the excellence programmes which are ongoing in the various provinces to “capacitate the SA team that will represent the country at the 2020 Olympic Games”.
ASA emphasised that the readiness of local stadia was critical as there are only 48 gold medals available to be won at the Olympic Games. Of those gold medals only six are reserved for the road races such as the marathon and race walking, both of which do not need classifiable facilities.
The national federation said there were currently events at provincial and district levels which served as direct feeders for Team SA’s 2020 Olympic squad.
These are the national championships staged by North and Central Gauteng Athletics, Free State and Boland, Athletics Central North West, Western Province Athletics, KwaZuluNatal Athletics, Athletics Mpumalanga, Eastern Province Athletics, Athletics North West, Athletics South Western Districts, Athletics Transkei, Athletics Vaal Triangle, Limpopo Athletics, Griqualand Athletics, North West Cape Athletics and Border Athletics.
ASA appealed to the provinces to stage more competitions which can help it identify new talent worth developing to win silverware in track and fields events. The federations said these track and field events took up 87.5 percent of gold medals which will be available at the Tokyo Olympics. ASA also appealed to local and provincial government to upgrade track and field facilities in their jurisdictions and said at the very least each province ought to have one IAAF certified facility for track and field while districts should have at least one certified facility.
Kimberley’s Theo Senekal who just attained his
ASA certification as a national Excellence Advisor and coach, said for their part they have made representations to the Sol Plaatje municipality for the consideration of the De Beers stadium as a likely certifiable athletics venue.
“It will be beneficial to our athletes in the province and Kimberley (to) host future national championships,” Senekal said.
THE TABLE below reflects IAAF certified stadiums which are located in South Africa. The distribution of the tracks is as follows: Tracks are available in only 7 provinces: Gauteng (5); Free State (4); Western Cape (3); Kwa-Zulu Natal (3); Eastern Cape (1); Limpopo (1); North West (1); Mpumalanga (0);