SASCOC SHRUGS OFF CLAIMS
Sports body rejects Viljoen’s complaints about money
SA SPORT Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) has laughed off at a barrage of allegations made by Team SA’s Rio Games medallist Sunette Viljoen.
The Rio silver medal-winning javelin thrower has been on a twoday tirade, accusing Sascoc of not delivering on their promises to athletes.
She also insinuated that the R70million the Olympic governing body received from the national lottery prior to the Team SA’s departure to Rio was wasted and called for an investigation.
In his response, Sascoc president Gideon Sam said: “I find it strange that I bumped into Sunette a number of times at the Olympic Village in Rio and the only thing I got from her and her coach [Terseus Liebenberg] was always ‘dankie meneer Sam’ [thank you Mr Sam].
“Sascoc does not own athletes because we are merely topping up on what their federations has to offer them, if any,” Sam told Sowetan yesterday.
As for how Sascoc spent the lottery fund, he said: “The R70-million goes back to 2014. We apply just like anybody else but we waited for three years. The money had to cover our debts in the three years we waited because we spent from our money while waiting. It’s normal accounting and we’ve got nothing to hide. In fact, we invite people to come and check our books.”
Sam also refuted Viljoen’s claims that athletes wait for up to a year for bonuses promised.
“We paid yesterday [Tuesday] during the team’s arrival. We don’t owe anybody anything. The minister [Fikile Mbalula] called me late at night to find out about Sunette’s claims on Twitter but I told him just to ignore her.”
Mbalula couldn’t hold back, responding with “she complains all the time”.
Claims that she paid for her own tracksuits as sizes were not taken. Sam said Viljoen was campaigning abroad when the rest of the team had their clothing tailored at their holding camp at the Birchwood Hotel in Boksburg.
“I agree the tracksuits were not nice but all the other athletes received their suitcases [kit] here and Sunette didn’t travel with us.”
Viljoen is in Switzerland where she will compete as the country’s lone participant at the Lausanne Diamond League meeting tonight.
The world championships bronze medallist has had a field day on Twitter since Team SA’s return from Rio on Tuesday where Viljoen, 32, made up the total of 10 the medals the team brought back.
It started with this tweet: “Money again promised [to] the medallists. Hope to see it within the next year. The begging is set to begin”.
In her last tweet, Viljoen wrote: “Please note that I’m in Switzerland at the moment and will only be able to do interviews once I’m back home.”