Petulant USSA doesn’t have a leg to stand on
Student body University Sport South Africa (USSA) has blown its top a couple of times over the last few weeks, seemingly flabbergasted that professional athletes will not simply bow to its mighty power as a multi-coded umbrella organisation.
Notably furious after multiple athletes focused on the lucrative Diamond League final in Zurich this week, the varsity body was adamant that elite stars should have made themselves available for the ongoing World Student Games in Taipei.
First they lost it when Olympic champions Wayde van Niekerk and Caster Semenya opted to concentrate on the World Championships in London earlier this month, where they each bagged two medals.
While Van Niekerk withdrew with a back injury, Semenya went on to win the Diamond League final in the 800m, earning R660 000 in prize money.
This week USSA again lashed out at sprinter Pieter Conradie, who was already splashing around in toy pools in Taipei when he received a surprise invite for the Diamond League battle in the 400m event.
Conradie asked to be released from the team, and when his request was declined, he packed his bags, jumped ship and went awol, later popping up in Zurich.
After the World Championships, long jump bronze medallist Ruswahl Samaai had also withdrawn himself from the team on the eve of the Student Games, explaining he would have only one day of travel available ahead of this weekend’s competition in Taipei, and the schedule was too tight.
While neither athlete won his event in Zurich, Samaai earned R260 000 for second place and Conradie pocketed R40 000 for seventh position.
Had Conradie known he would crack an invite to the final, he would no doubt have withdrawn from the Student Games team in advance, but as an athlete who receives limited financial support, he was forced to make a crucial career decision.
Unlike the Springboks, Proteas and Bafana Bafana, national track and field athletes are not contracted and receive no regular financial support outside private sponsors and Sascoc’s relatively exclusive Operation Excellence programme.
Many athletes receive bursaries from tertiary institutions in order to pursue elite sport, but any organisation that demands the participation of individuals who have bills to pay should be able to compensate them for loss of income.
South African athletes have it hard enough as it is, and when they climb the ladder to the top of their sport, it’s only fair to allow them to consider the option that would be best suited to their own progress in a brutal individual code.
Surely Conradie’s appearance at the Diamond League final should evoke as many patriotic emotions as his participation would at the less prestigious Student Games, albeit not in a national vest.
The sprinter from Pretoria might be punished for his vanishing act after a disciplinary hearing, and he would no doubt have considered those consequences when he made his decision, but for USSA to accuse him of turning his back on his country is a little over the top.
When sports bodies can offer the financial support required by elite athletes to get to the top, they can make demands on where those athletes compete.
Until then, they’re just making a noise.