Wayde knee op a success
Rehab starts in Colorado, then on to Doha before star’s honeymoon Rebel faction threatens to break away from KZN as athletics storm brews
ALONG and winding road to recovery lies ahead for Wayde van Niekerk after surgery on his damaged knee at the Steadman Clinic in Vail, Colorado, on Tuesday was declared a success
Van Niekerk, will be out of action for up to six months, but he will be treated by some of the best minds in sports medicine.
The 400m world champion went under the knife in Colorado, with world-renowned complex knee specialist Dr Robert LaPrade overseeing the operation.
Van Niekerk’s agent Peet van Zyl said the athlete faced a long recovery and rehabilitation process before he would make his return to the track.
“There is no rush, he just needs to do the rehabilitation and he will stay in Colorado for little over two weeks for the first (phase) of intense rehab before he flies again,” Van Zyl said.
Van Niekerk will return to South Africa for a short stint before travelling to Doha to consult Dr Louis Holtzhausen, who looked after Wayde for many years in Bloemfontein.
“He will do the rest of his rehab in Doha with Doc Louis for a good four to six weeks before he goes on honeymoon,” Van Zyl said.
“The operation had to happen, so we decided to get the wedding out of the way before going for going under the knife.”
It has been a whirlwind couple of days for Van Niekerk, who married girlfriend Chesney Campbell on Saturday before he jetted off to the United States.
Van
pictured,
A STORM is brewing in KwaZulu-Natal Athletics (KZNA) as it is fighting against a rebel group of clubs looking to break away and register as a new province under Athletics South Africa (ASA).
Convinced that ASA would grant uMgungundlovu Athletics territorial membership, KZNA interdicted the medial and lateral tears of the meniscus, as well as a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in a celebrity tag match curtain-raiser to last month’s rugby Test between the Springboks and the All Blacks at Newlands in Cape Town.
The injury effectively rules him out of the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia, in April where he planned to race the 100m and 200m sprint distances and would also have been a crucial member of a 4x100m relay team.
“I was looking forward to competing in the 100m and 200m events in Gold Coast, and participating at the national championships in March, so this is unf o r t u n a t e timing,” Van N i e k e r k said in a release.
“B u t this is sport and these things happen. I trust that the team I have around me, including the medical professionals, will make this process as smooth as possible.”
Van Zyl said they had sent scans of Van Niekerk knee to his renowned German doctor Hans-Wilhelm Mueller-Wohlfahrt, who also has Jamaican world 100m and 200m record-holder Usain Bolt as a patient.
Mueller-Wohlfahrt referred Van Niekerk to LaPrade, who he believed was the best in his field and would give the South African the best chance of recovery.
“We sent him (Mueller-Wohlfahrt) the scans and he immediately said he could do the operation but considering who Wayde is and his stature in world athletics, he needs the best in the world to operate on him,” Van Zyl said.
“We want to improve his chances of success; he then phoned Dr LaPrade, who said come as soon as possible.” national body from considering accepting their application.
In a letter addressed to KZNA, uMgungundlovu Athletics representative Mac Chitja requested a meeting with the province to discuss its secession.
“uMgungundlovu have organised themselves into a structure referred to as uMgungundlovu Athletics,” Chitja wrote in the letter.
“The clubs have resolved err, poor.
The Bangladeshis were devoid of belief and at various stages it appeared ability too, but they were just the kind of opponents South Africa needed to restore some confidence.
Even in the absence – in the Tests – of some major names; AB de Villiers, Dale Steyn, Vernon Philander and (for one Test) Morne Morkel the Proteas were dominant. A new opener – Aiden Markram – could acquaint himself with Test cricket, Andile Phehlukwayo, who’s still played less than 30 first-class games, has some Test caps and wickets, and the batsmen have had their self-belief restored after a wretched tour to to apply for membership of ASA in terms of Clause 6 of the constitution of ASA.
“We seek a meeting with KZNA executives thereof to discuss the best way to manage this process.”
Athletics SA chief executive officer Richard Stander said that although clubs can approach the mother body, they encourage provincial unions to deal with such matters among each other.
“Clause 6 allows anyone to apply for membership with ASA and we receive a lot of requests like that and we refer them back to the province if they are a registered member,” Stander said.
“At their annual meeting, they can discuss whatever the reason may be why they want to break away.
“They have to motivate the reason to the council and they can then decide if there is merit to the application and then approach ASA.”
KZNA’s legal action was one of the issues that compelled ASA to launch a task team to investigate the provincial body.
At its council meeting on Saturday in Kempton Park, the membership of ASA instructed the board to convene a task team to investigate KZNA.
“Members were also formally informed that KZNA has taken ASA to the high court on a matter that the national federation feels is not party to,” the athletics body said in a statement.
“ASA has given its lawyers instructions to oppose the matter.
“Members again expressed their displeasure that the mother body is being forced to spend huge financial resources to defend the matter, which they said could have been directed to athletes and other important things.”
KZNA has been accused of ignoring council decisions and for attacking the national federation on social media.
“The Council ruled that the ASA constitution should be adhered to and that KZNA will not be allowed to bend the rules to suit them at the expense of progress of the Athletics Family,” ASA said in a statement.