The South African men’s hockey team’s road to the Athens Olympic Games has — to put it mildly — been a rocky one.
The inability to gain automatic access via the All Africa Games last October was followed closely by the controversial omissions of the experienced Mike Cullen and Justin King.
King and Cullen deserted their teammates in their hour of need — the Olympic qualifying tournament in Madrid earlier this year — preferring instead to stay in the United Kingdom with their respective clubs.
And at that tournament it took a last-gasp goal from 243-Test veteran Gregg Clarke against Belgium to set up an enthralling penalty shoot-out in the vital seventh-place play-off. The winner would qualify for Athens.
South Africa succeeded via sudden-death strokes, only to encounter a different hurdle — the Hellenic Hockey Association’s bid to be included in the hockey tournament on account of being the hosts.
And it was only a matter of a few weeks’ ago that the Court of Arbitration of Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland, ruled in favour of South Africa.
Once participation was finally guaranteed, Revington rewarded the youngsters who replaced King and Cullen at the qualifying tournament by retaining them in the final 16-man squad to the Olympic Games.
”It’s been a rocky road,” admitted coach Paul Revington, ”but I’m extremely happy with the progress.”
A training camp — in Barcelona, Spain, recently — saw the team acclimatise to the similar heat and humidity they are expected to encounter in Athens.
”I would say we met all the criteria. We also pushed the guys a bit and I think they will be ready,” said Revington. ”We also have 10 days in Athens to further acclimatise before our first match.”
The programme for the Olympics will also fall in South Africa’s favour with a rest day between each match.
”It’s definitely a plus,” said Revington.
The South African coach is targeting matches against Argentina, India and old foe New Zealand as matches South Africa must win if they hope to compete at the business end of the tournament.
Clarke, South Africa’s hero in the qualifying event, meanwhile, is set to retire after the Olympics following an illustrious career with his country. All things being equal, the southern Gauteng stalwart will notch his 250th cap in Athens — a record for a South African hockey player, men or women. — Sapa