FRIDAY, 12.10PM:
NATIONAL marathon champion Helene Joubert has been dropped from the South African squad which left on Thursday for Hungary to prepare for next month’s world track and field championships in Athens. Joubert was dropped after she unwittingly broke the rules and ran in last month’s Comrades Marathon. Banele Sindani of Athletics South Africa said: “All Athletes were informed well in advance that if they ran in the Comrades, they would be ineligible for Athens.”
Joubert said the rule was never officially communicated to her. Only her Liberty Life team manager, Paul Mitchell, informed her of the ASA’s ruling and that no-one from the governing body contacted her. “I found out two-and-a-half weeks before the Comrades that if I went ahead I would be kicked off the squad for Athens. At that stage I wasn’t prepared to throw away months of training geared especially trwards the Comrades,” she said.
Sindani dismissed Joubert’s complaint, saying ASA’s Bennett Bailey telephoned Joubert “a long time before the Comrades”. He added, “We also sent faxes to all of our affiliated provinces informing them of the ruling. It was left to the provinces to communicate with clubs and the athletes.”