Julian Drew
ONE judoka, six cyclists and 18 track and field athletes were added to the Olympic team for Atlanta at an announcement by the National Olympic Committee of South Africa (Nocsa) in Johannesburg on Thursday. The only surprise among the new team members was the omission of race walker Chris Britz.
He was a controversial member of the original 19-strong squad of athletes selected by Athletics South Africa after the national championships two weeks ago and forwarded to Nocsa for ratification. Four marathon runners and pole vaulter Okkert Brits were named in the team earlier in the year. Britz was the only athlete not to have reached an “A” qualifying standard for Atlanta while several athletes who had achieved the required mark were left out.
Nocsa’s two-tier selection policy provides for anyone who is likely to reach the semi-finals as well as a developmental component for young athletes who can be expected to feature prominently in future Olympics and will benefit from the exposure in Atlanta.
While Nocsa president, Sam Ramsamy, accepted that ASA nominated Britz in good faith based on its belief that he could finish in the top 15 in the 20km walk, Ramsamy said that only “A” qualifiers could go to Atlanta.
Two other athletes, javelin thrower Philip Spies and hammer thrower Roumen Koprivchin, had been given until June 30 by ASA to prove their fitness and achieve the Olympic “A” qualifying mark. Nocsa agreed that athletics should be given two more places but attached strict conditions.
The athletes concerned must achieve an “A” qualifying standard; must be capable of reaching the semi-finals or the top 16 in the case of a straight final; must be fully fit according to Nocsa’s specifications; and must have complied with all the regulations of ASA and the International Amateur Athletic Federation. These conditions must be met by June 18.
Nocsa’s offer will throw a lifeline to Britz who will race next week in Eisenhutt near Berlin, which is one of the world’s fastest race walking circuits. Eisenhutt attracts the world’s best race walkers and three of 1995’s top six times were set there. If Britz is to go under the 1:23:20 time he needs he could not have chosen a better race.
At the South African championships in Cape Town two weeks ago Britz lowered his own national record to 1:24:36 but hit a bad patch in the second half of the race and also had to race on his own. “I was very frustrated afterwards because I lost concentration at around 13km.
“I lost about 20 seconds a kilometre over the following three kilometres which would have put me very close to the qualifying time. My training has been going very well though and I think I can reach my goal in Germany,” said Britz.
The irony for Britz, however, is that, although he has never been close to the “A” standard, his time from Cape Town would have placed him 11th at last year’s world championships in Gothenburg where the course was much quicker. It was for this reason that Britz was included in the team by ASA.
There certainly is merit in selecting athletes with “B” standard qualifiers in the less popular events like race walking because these events could die a slow death if participants aren’t rewarded with the opportunity to compete in major championships.
But perhaps the best time to advance such a policy would be the world championships rather than the Olympics where the number of competitors is far more restricted.
The main dilemma for ASA is that 37 athletes achieved the “A” qualifying standard this year and many more did so last year. The qualifying period for Atlanta began on January 1 1995. Nocsa has made it clear, however, that it is not taking any holiday makers to Atlanta and it is up to ASA to ensure that the best athletes go to the Olympics in the quota it has been given.
Athletics is a relatively simple sport to analyse in terms of the marks achieved by athletes providing the benefits of altitude are taken into consideration for the explosive events and adjustments made accordingly. The selection of any team is always controversial and although the athlete named so far constitute a reasonable attempt at ensuring the best go to the Games, there are some glaring anomalies.
Three athletes were chosen for the men’s 400m while a further two 400m runners are in the team as members of the 4 x 400m relay team. However, if accepted conversions for performances at altitude are taken into consideration, not one athlete would have made the 400m qualifying time.
Twenty-year-old Hendrik Mokganyetsi and even Arnaud Malherbe (23) could be considered as athletes for the future but the same cannot be said of 28-year-old Bobang Phiri. All three will certainly have to improve on current form to have a chance of reaching the semi-finals.
It is also unlikely that any combination of the five athletes selected will be able to string together the close to 45.25 seconds per leg required to reach the final of the relay in the absence of the injured Riaan Dempers.
If a relay team must run in Atlanta then why not use the three athletes in the 400m together with 400m hurdler Llewellyn Herbert. Ferrins Pieterse, who should already be in the team, could also form part of the relay squad and the two athletes who are only going to Atlanta for the relay could be left at home. Pieterse ran a sea level 49.41 in the 400m hurdles behind Herbert in Cape Town which is a full 0.63 seconds under the qualifying standard.
Another athlete who should be in the team is pole vaulter Riaan Botha who has made the qualifying height of 5.60m three times this season. He was ranked equal 11th in the world last year with 5.80m and he would have made the final and finished eighth in Gothenburg with his three best jumps this year. He is only 25 and there is no justification for his omission, while 33-year-old long jumper, Francois Fouche, is in the team after qualifying only twice, both times at altitude.
Allegations of favouritism towards Rand Afrikaans University athletes – the two most controversial selections, Britz and Fouche, are at RAU along with one of the three selectors who is also a race walking coach – have come from many athletes, but obviously this is just speculation.
Seventeen-year-old high jump sensation Hestrie Storbeck, who has twice cleared the qualifying height of 1.92m, is also unlucky not to be in the team. Javelin thrower Philip Spies has been over 80m twice this year and, as a member of the Olympic squad selected last October, has not even been aiming for a peak in the domestic season.
For some reason he has been told to prove his fitness while the only thing that has been troubling him lately is a minor problem of shin splints.
ENDS