Gold medallist packs it in
OUT IN THE COLD: UNAFFORDABLE WITHOUT SPONSORSHIPS OR SUPPORT World Aquatics champ thinks logically and gets a regular job.
Just 12 months ago, Zane Waddell was celebrating a year in which he was the only South African to claim a gold medal at the 2019 World Aquatics Championships. This year, he’s no longer a swimmer.
The year 2020 dawned with the promise of a first Olympic appearance for the Bloemfontein backstroker. But he announced his shock retirement from the sport last month, aged just 22.
When it comes to financial support, South Africa’s swimmers – who, along with their athletics team-mates, traditionally rake in the most medals for the country at the Olympic Games – are at the bottom of the pile. With the national federation unable to secure significant sponsors, swimmers are left to make their own way.
The South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee’s (Sascoc) Operation Excellence funds dried up in October 2019, so the country’s stars have to find other means to compete.
And Waddell simply can’t afford to be a swimmer anymore.
Having finished his studies at the University of Alabama in the US, he’s taken a full-time job as a credit analyst at a bank and this leaves no time to train.
“It was certainly a tough decision to make, but I had conversations with my family and it was the right decision,” he said.
“It is tough, but it does not help being naive and getting myself into a deeper hole. This is the logical decision to make.”
When asked what assistance he has received from Swimming South Africa or Sascoc, Waddell said: “They gave assistance to get to some competitions at which I represented them. For the 2019 World Championships, I had to pay a portion of my way there.
“After [the championships] and being the only African male to get a gold medal, I asked but I was not given further assistance. I have reached out to multiple corporate sponsors to no avail. Covid-19 must be making it hard,” he said.
Waddell’s cause was not helped by the fact that the 50m backstroke in which he won the world title is not an Olympic event, so he had yet to prove himself as a medal contender in the 100m backstroke.
He was looking to qualify for his first Olympics in the 100m event and was certainly in good enough shape at the SA Championships in April, but they were cancelled because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Had there been funding available, from Sascoc or another federation, Waddell would only have received it if he’d already qualified for the 100m event.
“I sent an e-mail to Nkuli [Mngadi], our team manager at the World Championships in Gwangju, on 25 September, 2019, asking about funding. She said she’d forward my e-mail onto people at Swimming SA, which she did.
“On 26 September, 2019, I was told via e-mail that they had a call scheduled in October 2019 to discuss funding for the Olympics.
“On 11 October, 2019, I was told via e-mail that I won’t get funding [ because] ‘the 50 back [50m backstroke] is not an Olympic event, and they’re only funding athletes who are top eight in the world in Olympic events’.
“I was sad and shocked [and to have achieved] a gold at the World Championships, to get told I won’t get funding because it wasn’t an Olympic event, kind of felt like it invalidated my achievement in Gwangju,” said Waddell.
“It is extremely frustrating, but we have to remember that I am not the first swimmer to struggle with this. I hope it changes in the future for young South African swimmers.
“I believe many swimmers will have to make a similar decision ... effort in the pool does not pay the bills at the end of the month.”
Swimming SA chief executive Shaun Adriaanse expressed the organisation’s disappointment at Waddell’s decision.
I asked but was not given further assistance